Small Mammal Live Trapping Yields a Few Animals

A wet meadow was surveyed for small mammals last week in the Apple Hill Lower field.  A total of 28 Sherman Live Traps were set for 4 nights equaling 112 trap nights of effort.  Several species were captured but overall yields were quite low indicating that small mammal abundance might be low this spring.

Wet Meadow in Late Winter/Early Spring

Meadow Voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) are commonly associated with Wet Meadows in Connecticut.  

This wet meadow abruptly changed into a wet shrubby herbaceous inland wetland.

Male Mask Shrew (Sorex cinereus)

White-footed Mouse (Peromyscus leucopus)

Small Mammal Inventory -- Apple Hill Lower Field

Nicole Morin helps to install a pit-fall trap array targeting
Southern Bog Lemming and other small mammals that inhabit wet meadows.
Photo by James Fischer

We installed a small pit-fall trap array in the Apple Hill Lower Field to target the small mammals inhabiting shrubby/herbaceous inland wetland found along the south end of the field.  The soils in the upland field were frozen while the soils closer to the wetland were not.  We encountered a few problems with this array and so our efforts did not yield any captures.  But it was a great first attempt for the season.  Trapping will continue throughout the year in a variety of habitats.