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	<title>deer mouse Archives - Wild With Nature</title>
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	<title>deer mouse Archives - Wild With Nature</title>
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	<item>
		<title>Hidden world in the aspens: getting to know voles and more</title>
		<link>https://wildwithnature.com/2024/01/01/voles-aspens-wyoming/</link>
					<comments>https://wildwithnature.com/2024/01/01/voles-aspens-wyoming/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Shane Sater]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 2024 20:27:10 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[English-language stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Other Wildlife]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deer mouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[habitat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iliamna rivularis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[long-tailed vole]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microtus longicaudus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microtus montanus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[montane vole]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mountain hollyhock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Myodes gapperi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peromyscus maniculatus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Populus tremuloides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[small mammals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[voles]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://wildwithnature.com/?p=2862</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>July 30, 2023 “We know where all the birds are. We don’t know where all the mammals are,” Cody Lane tells me. We’re walking through [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://wildwithnature.com/2024/01/01/voles-aspens-wyoming/">Hidden world in the aspens: getting to know voles and more</a> appeared first on <a href="https://wildwithnature.com">Wild With Nature</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><a href="https://wildwithnature.com/2024/01/01/roedores-alamos-temblones/"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="706" height="181" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bilingual-en-2.jpg" alt="Bilingual nature podcast" class="wp-image-3486" style="width:auto;height:100px" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bilingual-en-2.jpg 706w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bilingual-en-2-300x77.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 706px) 100vw, 706px" /></a></figure>



<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1Oo7wRZ3NKBNlQLJAMBZnM?utm_source=generator&#038;t=0" width="100%" height="152" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph"><strong>July 30, 2023</strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_010251049-1024x768.jpg" alt="Cody Lane wades through mountain hollyhock (Iliamna rivularis) as we set live traps for small mammals in a burned aspen stand." class="wp-image-2934" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_010251049-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_010251049-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_010251049-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_010251049.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cody Lane wades through mountain hollyhock (Iliamna rivularis) as we set live traps for small mammals in a burned aspen stand.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">“We know where all the birds are. We don’t know where all the mammals are,” Cody Lane tells me. We’re walking through a young, leafy aspen stand in northwestern Wyoming’s upper Hoback River valley, baiting live traps for small mammals. The hillside is a waist-high profusion of flowers, grasses, and aspen saplings, lit gently by the evening sun. Except for the quiet, charcoal-black snags that stand watch around us, you might not guess that an intense September fire swept across this landscape five years ago.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody is wading through a pale purple jungle of mountain hollyhock (<em>Iliamna rivularis</em>), interspersed with bright yellow clumps of tall groundsel (<em>Senecio serra</em>). He reaches the next live trap, a rectangular metal box slightly larger than a zucchini. A grocery-store-sized zucchini, that is, not the enthusiastic monstrosities that late-summer gardens so often produce. Cody removes the bait ball from the previous night and hands it to me, an appealing mixture of oats and peanut butter. “It looks like Captain Crunch,” he says. He replaces it with a fresh ball of bait. With luck the new offering, its peanut butter scent still strong, will attract a rodent.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Dog beds and ruffed grouse</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" width="1024" height="855" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_005718951.MP_-1024x855.jpg" alt="Cody adds a handful of insulation from a dog bed to the live trap." class="wp-image-2935" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_005718951.MP_-1024x855.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_005718951.MP_-300x251.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_005718951.MP_-768x641.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_005718951.MP_.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cody adds a handful of insulation from a dog bed to the live trap.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody also adds a comfortable handful of insulation—in this case, the fluffy stuffing of a dog bed.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">“This is the Himalayan Plateau of North America—incredibly cold, incredibly dry,” Cody tells me. He’s waited until July to start small mammal trapping here, but even so, the nighttime lows are not much above 40°F. The insulation will keep a captured rodent warm until we check the traps in the morning.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Down the slope from us, field technician Lauren Tate is going from trap to trap as well, doing the same thing we are. You wouldn’t know it among the thick growth of wildflowers and aspens, but there are a hundred live traps on this slope, arranged in a neat 90 meter by 90 meter grid.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">As Lauren continues from one to the next, she flushes a ruffed grouse. The grouse flies to a heavily-charred lodgepole pine snag in a startled whir. Most of the birds have become relatively quiet in these late days of summer, but we can hear the piping calls of a flycatcher across the slope.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">“Olive-sided?” I ask Cody.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">“Yep,” he responds, “they breed in the burn. We caught one last year [in a mist net].”&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">From birds to voles</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_011409008-1024x768.jpg" alt="One of Cody's aspen study sites near the edge of the Roosevelt fire. Mountain hollyhock forms a dense stand under the burned conifers on the distant slope." class="wp-image-2936" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_011409008-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_011409008-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_011409008-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_011409008.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">One of Cody&#8217;s aspen study sites near the edge of the Roosevelt fire. Mountain hollyhock forms a dense stand under the burned conifers on the distant slope.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody is a master’s student at the University of Montana, and the area where we’re walking this evening is one of his research sites. It’s near the edge of the Roosevelt Fire, a blaze from September 2018 that <a href="https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/report-reveals-new-roosevelt-fire-details/article_e84ac3c4-f67e-5ec0-9864-702a66d5827b.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">burned over 61,000 acres and 55 homes</a> before firefighting efforts and a shift in winds finally ended its run. Now, five years later, Cody is studying how the wildlife has responded.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody’s research focuses particularly on birds, using mist-netting and breeding-season point count surveys to compare the bird community between areas that burned and areas that didn’t. But his master’s research is part of an even larger, multi-faceted research project led by the <a href="https://rickettsconservation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ricketts Conservation Foundation</a>. Broadly speaking, the project is looking at how the animals of the Hoback River valley—from songbirds to elk to voles—respond to fire, both in aspen stands and in conifer forests. Tonight, we’re focusing on the voles and the other small mammals.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Aspens and small mammals</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="891" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_175330237-1024x891.jpg" alt="A songbird nest - perhaps of a dusky flycatcher - in a young aspen among the regrowth from the fire." class="wp-image-2937" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_175330237-1024x891.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_175330237-300x261.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_175330237-768x668.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_175330237.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A songbird nest &#8211; perhaps of a dusky flycatcher &#8211; in a young aspen among the regrowth from the fire.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Aspen forests are wonderful places for biodiversity. And if I didn’t already know that, tonight’s trap-setting walk is making it clear. In the wake of the fire, the mountain hollyhock is growing with abandon, forming stands as lush as a garden. Meanwhile, the five-year-old aspen regrowth is already as high as my head. White-crowned sparrows chip in agitation from the young trees, where the tiny cup nests of dusky flycatchers hide. A litany of purple flowers are blooming across the slope: aspen fleabane (<em>Erigeron speciosus</em>)<em>, </em>thick-stem aster (<em>Eurybia integrifolia</em>)<em>, </em>Engelmann’s aster (<em>Eucephalus engelmannii</em>)<em>, </em>and western aster (<em>Symphyotrichum ascendens</em>). Farther uphill, the openings between the aspens are covered with the cheery yellow flowers and sandpapery leaves of little sunflower (<em>Helianthella uniflora</em>).&nbsp;</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="827" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_200242859-1024x827.jpg" alt="La flor asterácea Erigeron speciosus." class="wp-image-2962" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_200242859-1024x827.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_200242859-300x242.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_200242859-768x620.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_200242859.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Aspen fleabane.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">But what about small mammals? We know that they must be here, hiding among this lush community of plants. But we could spend days walking through without seeing a single vole, let alone knowing more about which species are here. And that’s where a live-trapping effort like this comes in. We’ll return to the traps early in the morning, measuring, identifying, and marking whatever mammals we catch. Then we’ll release them to go about their lives.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">“You’ll probably get to see some cool voles tomorrow,” Cody says.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">How to count voles</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_125239941-1024x768.jpg" alt="La salida del sol se destiñe entre las nubes sobre nuestro sitio de investigación." class="wp-image-2965" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_125239941-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_125239941-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_125239941-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_125239941.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The sunrise fades into the clouds over our study site.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">We’re back among the aspens at 6:15 am as a stunning orange sunrise fades into pastel clouds. We split into two crews to check the traps. Alan Moss and Josh Lefever form one team. I tag along with Cody and with Brooke Bowman, a bird biologist who is as new to small mammal trapping as I am. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">The first few traps are empty. Then we reach one that has a furry friend in it. Cody dumps the contents, mammal and insulation combined, into a one-gallon ziploc for a better view. Then he grips the vole securely by the scruff of its neck, wearing latex gloves (small mammals can carry a variety of diseases) and lifts it out of the bag.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134733754.MP_mtn-lt-vole-1024x768.jpg" alt="Brooke Bowman and Cody Lane work together to give a vole a numbered aluminum ear tag." class="wp-image-2938" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134733754.MP_mtn-lt-vole-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134733754.MP_mtn-lt-vole-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134733754.MP_mtn-lt-vole-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134733754.MP_mtn-lt-vole.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Brooke Bowman and Cody Lane work together to give a vole a numbered aluminum ear tag.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">“This is like the biggest vole we’ve ever caught!” he says.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">He and Brooke work together to give the vole a numbered metal ear tag. Next, we paint his belly with a thick green line of marker. This small mammal study involves three consecutive nights of trapping here, and we’re especially interested in how many voles we recapture from night to night. Based on this proportion, we’ll be able to estimate population sizes for each species and compare them between sites.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Long-tailed voles and other species</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="862" height="1024" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_124228511_LT-vole-862x1024.jpg" alt="A long-tailed vole ready to be released, his ear tagged and his belly marked with green marker." class="wp-image-2939" style="width:400px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_124228511_LT-vole-862x1024.jpg 862w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_124228511_LT-vole-253x300.jpg 253w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_124228511_LT-vole-768x912.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_124228511_LT-vole.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 862px) 100vw, 862px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A long-tailed vole ready to be released, his ear tagged and his belly marked with green marker.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">The vole is thrashing wildly in Cody’s hand, trying to escape from what must appear to him as a massive predator. Fortunately for him, this unusual experience will be over soon: it only takes us a minute or two to mark, measure, and release each animal.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Based on a careful examination of the genitalia, Cody can tell that this vole is a male. Like most voles, he has a somewhat stubby tail, a grayish furry coat, and a blunt snout. But identifying voles to species is challenging.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">So far, Cody’s team has found three vole species in this aspen stand. Southern red-backed voles (<em>Myodes gapperi</em>) are fairly distinctive, but the others—montane and long-tailed voles (<em>Microtus montanus</em> and <em>M. longicaudus</em>)—present a major identification puzzle, overlapping substantially in their appearance.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Having this vole in the hand gives us a better chance of identifying him. Even up-close, though, identification is hard. In the past, mammalogists have generally worked from dead specimens, where a close examination of the teeth helps distinguish the species.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody checks this vole carefully and takes some body measurements. This one has a surprisingly long tail, a whopping 70 millimeters. Most voles have much stubbier tails. This unusual proportion of tail to body makes Cody reasonably certain that this one is a long-tailed vole.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Of voles and mice</h3>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">As we continue checking the traps, we find many more montane or long-tailed voles. A substantial portion of them are subadults, born earlier this year. Voles are a popular prey for many birds and other animals—from kestrels, owls, and hawks to snakes, weasels, and coyotes—so they reproduce quickly and typically die young.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Vole populations often fluctuate greatly from year to year, and this site is no exception. “We didn’t catch a single vole here last year,” Cody tells me. This year, they seem to be as common as deer mice.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="837" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_132415673_mtn-lt-vole-1024x837.jpg" alt="A montane or long-tailed vole." class="wp-image-2940" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_132415673_mtn-lt-vole-1024x837.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_132415673_mtn-lt-vole-300x245.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_132415673_mtn-lt-vole-768x628.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_132415673_mtn-lt-vole.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A montane or long-tailed vole, with relatively small ears and short tail (in comparison to a deer mouse).</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">A light breeze is picking up now. We can hear a dusky flycatcher singing fragmented phrases from down the slope. Two woodpeckers—either three-toed or black-backed—are drumming from the burned conifers across the creek. When we get to our next trap, we find a deer mouse (<em>Peromyscus maniculatus</em>). It&#8217;s easy to tell that this is a mouse rather than a vole: it has much larger ears and a long tail with gray hairs above and white hairs underneath. And while voles are tricky, identifying mice to species here is straightforward. The deer mouse is the only species that Cody and his team have found on their sites. Well-known as a raider of household pantries, this mouse is adaptable and widespread across many habitats in North America.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="904" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134117619_deermouse-1024x904.jpg" alt="A deer mouse. Note the very large ears and the long, bicolored tail." class="wp-image-2941" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134117619_deermouse-1024x904.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134117619_deermouse-300x265.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134117619_deermouse-768x678.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134117619_deermouse.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An adult male deer mouse. Note the very large ears and the long, bicolored tail.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody checks the genitalia and tells us that this one is an adult male. Adult mice tend to be larger and browner, while juveniles are smaller and grayer.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Red-backed voles</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="934" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133309093_JoshLefever_redbacked-vole-1024x934.jpg" alt="A red-backed vole, showing faintly reddish fur on the back and relatively large ears (for a vole)." class="wp-image-2942" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133309093_JoshLefever_redbacked-vole-1024x934.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133309093_JoshLefever_redbacked-vole-300x274.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133309093_JoshLefever_redbacked-vole-768x700.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133309093_JoshLefever_redbacked-vole.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A southern red-backed vole, showing faintly reddish fur on the back and relatively large ears (for a vole).</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">As we release the deer mouse and he scampers off, Alan and Josh call to us from farther up the slope. They’ve caught a southern red-backed vole!</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">This one is subtly but distinctly different from our other voles, with rusty fur along the back and somewhat larger ears. It’s a species that is strongly associated with forested habitats in the mountains, particularly those with old trees and downed logs. In <em>Wild Mammals of Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park</em>, Steven Buskirk writes that this species was more widespread in the Pleistocene, when forests were more extensive. As the glaciers retreated and the climate warmed, the red-backed voles became restricted to the mountains. In these habitats, they remain a favored prey animal for such creatures as the pine marten and the boreal owl.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">“They’re beautiful. Handsome voles,” Cody says.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A nocturnal city</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="854" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20210421_231026585-1024x854.jpg" alt="Un ratón norteamericano." class="wp-image-2952" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20210421_231026585-1024x854.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20210421_231026585-300x250.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20210421_231026585-768x641.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20210421_231026585.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A deer mouse.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">By 8:00 am, we’ve checked all 100 traps and caught 26 mammals, all of them voles or deer mice. But the morning before, the crew caught a northern pocket gopher (<em>Thomomys talpoides</em>)—and sometimes flying squirrels and weasels visit the traps.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">The morning has opened my eyes to a community that I already knew of but that I don’t often consider, a bustling city of nocturnal rodents normally seen only in fleeting glimpses. And it’s raised additional questions for me. How do all of these mice and voles share this space?&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">The answer is complex and not fully known, though previous studies give some hints. Mice and voles differ in their diets. Deer mice eat seeds, insects, and even bird eggs. On the other hand, voles feed largely on green vegetation—though the southern red-backed vole also feeds on fungi and invertebrates.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Competition between voles?</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="701" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133316232.MP_Josh-Alan-redbacked-vole-1024x701.jpg" alt="Josh Lefever (left) and Alan Moss (right) work together to mark and release a red-backed vole." class="wp-image-2943" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133316232.MP_Josh-Alan-redbacked-vole-1024x701.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133316232.MP_Josh-Alan-redbacked-vole-300x205.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133316232.MP_Josh-Alan-redbacked-vole-768x525.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133316232.MP_Josh-Alan-redbacked-vole.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Josh Lefever (left) and Alan Moss (right) work together to mark and release a red-backed vole.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">How might the three vole species share this space? Researching voles in nearby Grand Teton National Park in the late 1960s, Tim Clark found that these three plus the meadow vole (<em>Microtus pennsylvanicus</em>) overlapped in some habitats, such as aspen stands, but differed substantially in their abundance between different habitats. The meadow vole, for example, was the least commonly-caught species among the aspens, but was overwhelmingly common in wet willow swamps. Given that all four voles seem to have relatively similar diets and activity patterns, Clark suggested that the species were competing, pushing each other to the habitat extremes in which they were each best-adapted to thrive. He found that meadow voles, for instance, were most common in the wettest habitats, whereas montane voles occurred in drier situations that didn’t support other voles.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Are red-backed, montane, and long-tailed voles jostling for space in this aspen grove, shoving each other to the margins? I don’t know, but it’s an intriguing question to ponder.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A snapshot of a hidden world</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-1024x768.jpg" alt="Mountain hollyhock and young aspens growing after the fire." class="wp-image-2944" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mountain hollyhock and young aspens growing after the fire.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">As we hike back out from the trap site, the aspen leaves rustle gently in the breeze. A Lincoln’s sparrow is singing along the creek, evoking memories of previous summer days I’ve spent in places like this. In the years ahead, studies like this one will help us better understand the ways in which the living community knits back together after a fire. But already, this research has given me a remarkable glimpse into the unseen life among the aspens. This leafy slope isn’t just a home for Lincoln’s sparrows, dusky flycatchers, ruffed grouse, and swaths of mountain hollyhock. It’s also a place where deer mice store seeds for the winter, where long-tailed voles graze, where red-backed voles hide from boreal owls, and where northern pocket gophers churn the soil.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">It’s a glimpse into a hidden world among the aspen leaves—and that’s pretty special.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color">Further reading</h3>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Buskirk, S.W. (2016). <em>Wild mammals of Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park</em>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Clark, T.W. (1973). Local distribution and interspecies interactions in microtines, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. <em>Great Basin Naturalist</em> 33(4):205-217.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Pennsylvania Game Commission. (2021). Mice and voles. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.pgc.pa.gov/Education/WildlifeNotesIndex/Documents/MiceNVoles.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.pgc.pa.gov/Education/WildlifeNotesIndex/Documents/MiceNVoles.pdf</a></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="935" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DSCN1527-1024x935.jpg" alt="A merlin perches near Helena, Montana with a vole it has caught (perhaps a meadow vole)." class="wp-image-2945" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DSCN1527-1024x935.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DSCN1527-300x274.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DSCN1527-768x701.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DSCN1527.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A merlin perches near Helena, Montana with a vole it has caught (perhaps a meadow vole).</figcaption></figure>
</div><p>The post <a href="https://wildwithnature.com/2024/01/01/voles-aspens-wyoming/">Hidden world in the aspens: getting to know voles and more</a> appeared first on <a href="https://wildwithnature.com">Wild With Nature</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
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		<title>Los roedores entre los álamos temblones</title>
		<link>https://wildwithnature.com/2024/01/01/roedores-alamos-temblones/</link>
					<comments>https://wildwithnature.com/2024/01/01/roedores-alamos-temblones/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Shane Sater]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 2024 20:22:57 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Historias en español]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Otras Criaturas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Plantas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deer mouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[habitat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iliamna rivularis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[long-tailed vole]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microtus longicaudus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microtus montanus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[montane vole]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mountain hollyhock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Myodes gapperi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peromyscus maniculatus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Populus tremuloides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[small mammals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[voles]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://wildwithnature.com/?p=2949</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>30 de julio de 2023 &#8220;Sabemos dónde están las aves. Pero no sabemos dónde están muchos de los mamíferos,&#8221; me dice Cody Lane. Estamos caminando [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://wildwithnature.com/2024/01/01/roedores-alamos-temblones/">Los roedores entre los álamos temblones</a> appeared first on <a href="https://wildwithnature.com">Wild With Nature</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><a href="https://wildwithnature.com/2024/01/01/voles-aspens-wyoming/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="734" height="188" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bilingual-es-2.jpg" alt="Podcast bilingüe de la naturaleza" class="wp-image-3489" style="width:auto;height:100px" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bilingual-es-2.jpg 734w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bilingual-es-2-300x77.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 734px) 100vw, 734px" /></a></figure>



<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/6KUyGDLTeIEmsH7ovrW3k5?utm_source=generator&#038;t=0" width="100%" height="152" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph"><strong>30 de julio de 2023</strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_010251049-1024x768.jpg" alt="Cody Lane wades through mountain hollyhock (Iliamna rivularis) as we set live traps for small mammals in a burned aspen stand." class="wp-image-2934" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_010251049-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_010251049-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_010251049-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_010251049.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cody Lane anda por la malva silvestre (Iliamna rivularis) mientras ponemos trampas para atrapar roedores vivos en un parche de álamos temblones quemados.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;Sabemos dónde están las aves. Pero no sabemos dónde están muchos de los mamíferos,&#8221; me dice Cody Lane. Estamos caminando a través de un parche joven y frondoso de álamos temblones (<em>Populus tremuloides</em>) en el Valle del Río Hoback del noroeste de Wyoming, Estados Unidos. Nuestra meta es poner trampas para atrapar roedores vivos. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">La ladera está cubierta en una profusión vegetal que alcanza a nuestras cinturas. Hay flores, gramíneas y álamos temblones jóvenes. Todos están iluminados suavemente por el sol a punto de ponerse. Si no fuera por los árboles muertos color carbón que parecen vigilar alrededor de nosotros, no adivinarías que un incendio intenso de septiembre arrasó este paisaje hace cinco años. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody está recorriendo una maraña lila de la malva silvestre (<em>Iliamna rivularis</em>) que se intercala con matas amarillas brillantes de <em>Senecio serra</em>. Llega a la próxima trampa, una caja rectangular de metal un poco más grande que una calabacita. Es decir, el tipo de calabacita que puedes conseguir en un supermercado, no los monstruos entusiastas que los jardines suelen producir a finales del verano. Cody remueve la bola de cebo de la noche anterior y me la da, una mezcla apetitosa de avena y mantequilla de maní. &#8220;Se parece a Captain Crunch,&#8221; dice, haciendo referencia a una marca de cereales. Él la reemplaza con una bola fresca de cebo. Ojalá que la nueva bola, con su fuerte olor a maní, atraiga un roedor.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Los colchones de perro y un grevól engolado</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="855" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_005718951.MP_-1024x855.jpg" alt="Cody adds a handful of insulation from a dog bed to the live trap." class="wp-image-2935" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_005718951.MP_-1024x855.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_005718951.MP_-300x251.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_005718951.MP_-768x641.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_005718951.MP_.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cody le añade un manojo de aislamiento térmico a la trampa.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody también añade un manojo amplio de aislamiento térmico—en este caso, el relleno esponjoso de un colchón de perro.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;Éste es como el altiplano himalayo de Norteamérica—increíblemente frío, increíblemente seco,&#8221; me cuenta Cody. Ha esperado hasta julio para empezar a atrapar los mamíferos pequeños, pero aun así, las temperaturas mínimas de las noches no son mucho más de los 40°F. El aislamiento térmico mantendrá caliente un roedor atrapado hasta que revisemos las trampas en la mañana. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cuesta abajo, la técnica de campo Lauren Tate está yendo de trampa a trampa también, haciendo la misma cosa como nosotros. No lo adivinarías entre el manchón de flores y álamos temblones, pero están cien trampas sobre esta ladera, colocadas en una cuadrícula precisa de 90 metros por 90 metros.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Mientras Lauren continúa de trampa a trampa, ella sobresalta a un grevól engolado (<em>Bonasa umbellus</em>). El grevól vuela con un zumbido sorprendido y se posa en un carbonizado pino muerto. La mayoría de las aves ya se ha vuelto callada durante estos días tardes del verano, pero podemos oír las vocalizaciones agudas de algún papamoscas en la distancia.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;¿Un papamoscas boreal [<em>Contopus cooperi</em>]?&#8221; le pregunto a Cody. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;Sí,&#8221; contesta, &#8220;anidan en el bosque quemado. El año pasado atrapamos uno [en una red de niebla].&#8221;&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">De las aves a los topillos</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_011409008-1024x768.jpg" alt="One of Cody's aspen study sites near the edge of the Roosevelt fire. Mountain hollyhock forms a dense stand under the burned conifers on the distant slope." class="wp-image-2936" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_011409008-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_011409008-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_011409008-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_011409008.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Uno de los sitios de investigación dentro de la huella del incendio forestal Roosevelt. La malva silvestre forma una capa densa bajo de los coníferos quemados en la ladera distante.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody está estudiando su maestría en la Universidad de Montana, y el área donde caminamos esta tarde es uno de sus sitios de investigación. Está cerca del borde del incendio forestal Roosevelt, que <a href="https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/report-reveals-new-roosevelt-fire-details/article_e84ac3c4-f67e-5ec0-9864-702a66d5827b.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">quemó más de 61000 acres y 55 casas</a> en septiembre de 2018 antes de que los bomberos y un cambio en los vientos acabaran de ponerle fin a su escapada. Ahora, cinco años después, Cody está investigando cómo la vida silvestre ha respondido. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Su investigación está especialmente enfocada en las aves. Usa redes de niebla y conteos desde puntos durante la estación reproductiva para comparar la comunidad aviaria entre áreas quemadas y áreas no quemadas. Sin embargo, su maestría sólo es una parte de un proyecto aún más grande dirigido por la <a href="https://rickettsconservation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ricketts Conservation Foundation</a>. En general, el proyecto investiga cómo los animales del Valle del Río Hoback—de las aves cantoras a los uapitíes y los topillos—reaccionan a los incendios, tanto en los bosques del álamo temblón como en los bosques coníferos. Esta noche, nos estamos enfocando en los topillos y en los otros mamíferos pequeños. </p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Los álamos temblones y los mamíferos pequeños</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="891" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_175330237-1024x891.jpg" alt="A songbird nest - perhaps of a dusky flycatcher - in a young aspen among the regrowth from the fire." class="wp-image-2937" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_175330237-1024x891.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_175330237-300x261.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_175330237-768x668.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_175330237.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">El nido de un ave cantora &#8211; tal vez un papamoscas matorralero &#8211; en un álamo temblón joven entre la vegetación creciendo después del incendio.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Los bosques del álamo temblón son lugares maravillosos para la biodiversidad. Y si yo aún no lo supiera, esta caminata lo haría claro. Después del incendio, la malva silvestre ha crecido con desenfado, formando parches tan exuberantes como los de un jardín. Los brotes del álamo temblón que crecen desde hace cinco años ya son tan altos como yo. Unos gorriones corona blanca (<em>Zonotrichia leucophrys</em>) pían agitados desde los árboles jóvenes, donde los pequeños nidos hemisféricos de los papamoscas matorraleros (<em>Empidonax oberholseri</em>) se esconden. Una letanía de flores moradas cubre la ladera: entre otras están las asteráceas <em>Erigeron speciosus, Eurybia integrifolia, Eucephalus engelmannii</em> y <em>Symphyotrichum ascendens</em>. Más cuesta arriba, los espacios abiertos entre los álamos temblones están cubiertos con las alegres flores amarillas y las hojas con textura de lija del girasol <em>Helianthella uniflora</em>.&nbsp;</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="827" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_200242859-1024x827.jpg" alt="La flor asterácea Erigeron speciosus." class="wp-image-2962" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_200242859-1024x827.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_200242859-300x242.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_200242859-768x620.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_200242859.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">La flor asterácea Erigeron speciosus.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Pero ¿qué hay de los mamíferos pequeños? Sabemos que deben estar por aquí, escondiéndose dentro de esta comunidad frondosa de plantas. Pero podríamos pasar días enteros caminando por aquí sin ver ni un solo topillo, mucho menos aprender más de cuáles especies hay. Y es por eso que necesitamos un esfuerzo así, para atrapar a los roedores y mantenerlos vivos. Vamos a volver a las trampas temprano en la mañana para medir, identificar y marcar cualquier roedor que atrapemos. Después los soltaremos para seguir con sus vidas. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;Probablemente vas a poder ver algunos topillos chéveres mañana,&#8221; dice Cody.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Cómo contar los topillos</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_125239941-1024x768.jpg" alt="La salida del sol se destiñe entre las nubes sobre nuestro sitio de investigación." class="wp-image-2965" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_125239941-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_125239941-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_125239941-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_125239941.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">La salida del sol se destiñe entre las nubes sobre nuestro sitio de investigación.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Estamos de vuelta entre los álamos temblones a las 6:15 de la mañana mientras una impresionante salida del sol anaranjada se destiñe entre las nubes pasteles. Nos separamos en dos equipos para revisar las trampas. Alan Moss y Josh Lefever forman un equipo. Mientras tanto, yo acompaño a Cody y a Brooke Bowman, una bióloga de aves que es tan nueva en atrapar los mamíferos pequeños como yo. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Las primeras trampas que revisamos están vacías. Pero después de unos minutos, llegamos a una trampa que contiene un &#8220;amigo peludo.&#8221; Cody vacía el contenido, tanto el mamífero como el aislamiento térmico, en un ziploc del tamaño de un galón para poder verlo mejor. Entonces agarra el topillo firmemente por el cogote, llevando guantes (los roedores pueden transmitir una variedad de enfermedades) y lo saca de la bolsa.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134733754.MP_mtn-lt-vole-1024x768.jpg" alt="Brooke Bowman and Cody Lane work together to give a vole a numbered aluminum ear tag." class="wp-image-2938" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134733754.MP_mtn-lt-vole-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134733754.MP_mtn-lt-vole-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134733754.MP_mtn-lt-vole-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134733754.MP_mtn-lt-vole.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Brooke Bowman y Cody Lane trabajan juntos para darle al topillo una etiqueta de identificación en la oreja.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;¡Este podría ser el topillo más grande que nunca hemos atrapado!&#8221; exclama.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Él y Brooke trabajan juntos para darle al topillo una etiqueta de aluminio, estampada con un número, en la oreja. Luego, usamos un marcador para pintarle el vientre con una línea verde espesa. Esta investigación implica tres noches consecutivas de trampeo por aquí. Nos interesa especialmente cuántos de los mismos topillos volveremos a capturar noche a noche. Según esta proporción, podremos estimar el tamaño de la población de cada especie y compararlos entre los sitios de investigación. </p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Los topillos colilargos y otras especies</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="862" height="1024" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_124228511_LT-vole-862x1024.jpg" alt="A long-tailed vole ready to be released, his ear tagged and his belly marked with green marker." class="wp-image-2939" style="width:400px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_124228511_LT-vole-862x1024.jpg 862w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_124228511_LT-vole-253x300.jpg 253w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_124228511_LT-vole-768x912.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_124228511_LT-vole.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 862px) 100vw, 862px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Un topillo colilargo listo para ser liberado, su oreja con una etiqueta y su vientre marcado con un marcador verde.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">El topillo está forcejeando desesperadamente en la mano de Cody. Intenta escapar lo que probablemente le parece ser un depredador enorme. Afortunadamente para él, esta experiencia extraña acabará pronto. Solo nos toma uno o dos minutos para marcar, medir y soltar cada animal. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Basado en un examen cuidadoso de los genitales, Cody determina que este topillo es un macho. Como la mayoría de los topillos, tiene una cola relativamente corta (en comparación con los ratones), un pelaje gris y un hocico romo. Pero identificar los topillos al nivel de especie es otra cosa, algo muy difícil. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Hasta ahora, el equipo de Cody ha encontrado tres especies de topillos en este parche de álamos temblones. Los topillos de espalda roja sureños (<em>Myodes gapperi</em>) tienen características más o menos distintivas. Pero los otros—los topillos montanos y colilargos (<em>Microtus montanus</em> and <em>M. longicaudus</em>)—constituyen un rompecabezas grande, coincidiendo bastante en su apariencia. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Con este topillo en la mano, tenemos mejor chance de identificarlo. Pero hasta en la mano, la identificación es un gran desafío. En el pasado, los mastazoólogos han solido trabajar con ejemplares muertos; examinar los dientes minuciosamente facilita distinguir las especies. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody revisa este topillo cuidadosamente y realiza unas mediciones del cuerpo. Este topillo tiene una cola inesperadamente larga, de unos 70 milímetros. La mayoría de los topillos tiene la cola mucho más corta. La proporción inusual entre cola y cuerpo le asegura a Cody que éste es un topillo colilargo.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">De topillos y ratones</h3>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Volvemos a revisar las trampas y seguimos encontrando muchos topillos montanos o colilargos. Una gran proporción son jóvenes que nacieron este año. Los topillos son una presa popular para muchos depredadores—de los cernícalos, búhos y gavilanes a las serpientes, comadrejas y coyotes. Se reproducen rápidamente y suelen morir jóvenes.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Las poblaciones de los topillos suelen fluctuar mucho año a año, y este sitio no es ninguna excepción. &#8220;Aquí no atrapamos ni un solo topillo el año pasado,&#8221; me dice Cody. Este año, parecen ser tan comunes como los ratones ciervo.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="837" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_132415673_mtn-lt-vole-1024x837.jpg" alt="A montane or long-tailed vole." class="wp-image-2940" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_132415673_mtn-lt-vole-1024x837.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_132415673_mtn-lt-vole-300x245.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_132415673_mtn-lt-vole-768x628.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_132415673_mtn-lt-vole.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Un topillo montano o colilargo, con orejas relativamente pequeñas y cola corta (comparado con un ratón).</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Una brisa suave empieza a soplar. Podemos escuchar trozos del canto de un papamoscas matorralero desde la base de la ladera. Dos pájaros carpinteros—o picos tridáctilos americanos (<em>Picoides dorsalis</em>) o picos árticos (<em>Picoides arcticus</em>)—están tamborileando desde los coníferos quemados de la ladera opuesta. Cuando llegamos a la próxima trampa, encontramos un ratón ciervo (<em>Peromyscus maniculatus</em>). Es fácil confirmar que es un ratón en vez de un topillo. Tiene las orejas mucho más grandes y la cola más larga, con pelo gris arriba y pelo blanco abajo. Y aunque es difícil identificar los topillos al nivel de especie, identificar los ratones por aquí es fácil. El ratón ciervo es la única especie que Cody y su equipo han encontrado en sus sitios. Estos ratones, bien conocidos como ladrones de despensas, son adaptables y comunes a través de muchos hábitats en Norteamérica.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="904" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134117619_deermouse-1024x904.jpg" alt="A deer mouse. Note the very large ears and the long, bicolored tail." class="wp-image-2941" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134117619_deermouse-1024x904.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134117619_deermouse-300x265.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134117619_deermouse-768x678.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_134117619_deermouse.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Un ratón ciervo macho adulto. Nota las orejas bastante grandes y la cola larga y bicolor.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Cody examina los genitales y nos dice que éste es un macho adulto. Los ratones adultos suelen ser más grandes, con el pelo más pardusco, mientras que los jóvenes son más pequeños y grises.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Los topillos de espalda roja</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="934" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133309093_JoshLefever_redbacked-vole-1024x934.jpg" alt="A red-backed vole, showing faintly reddish fur on the back and relatively large ears (for a vole)." class="wp-image-2942" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133309093_JoshLefever_redbacked-vole-1024x934.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133309093_JoshLefever_redbacked-vole-300x274.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133309093_JoshLefever_redbacked-vole-768x700.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133309093_JoshLefever_redbacked-vole.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Un topillo de espalda roja sureño. Nota el pelaje sutilmente rojizo en la espalda y las orejas relativamente grandes (para un topillo).</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">En cuanto liberamos al ratón ciervo y él huye, Alan y Josh nos llaman desde cuesta arriba. ¡Han atrapado un topillo de espalda roja!</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Este individuo parece sutil pero claramente diferente de nuestros otros topillos, con pelo herrumbroso en la espalda y las orejas un poco más grandes. Es una especie altamente asociada con hábitats boscosos en las montañas, especialmente los que tienen árboles viejos y troncos caídos. En el libro <em>Wild Mammals of Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park</em>, Steven Buskirk escribe que esta especie habitaba una extensión más amplia durante el Pleistoceno, cuando los bosques eran más extensos. Mientras los glaciares se retiraban y el clima se calentaba, la distribución de los topillos de espalda roja se restringió a las montañas. En estos hábitats persisten, una presa preferida de animales como la marta (<em>Martes americana</em>) y el mochuelo boreal (<em>Aegolius funereus</em>). </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;Son hermosos. Topillos magníficos,&#8221; dice Cody.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Una ciudad nocturna</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="854" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20210421_231026585-1024x854.jpg" alt="Un ratón norteamericano." class="wp-image-2952" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20210421_231026585-1024x854.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20210421_231026585-300x250.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20210421_231026585-768x641.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20210421_231026585.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Un ratón norteamericano.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Al llegar a las 8:00 am, hemos revisado todas las 100 trampas y atrapado 26 mamíferos, todos topillos o ratones ciervo. Pero la mañana anterior, el equipo atrapó una tuza de montaña (<em>Thomomys talpoides</em>)—y a veces una ardilla voladora o una comadreja aparece en una trampa.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Esta mañana me ha abierto los ojos a una comunidad de la que ya sabía, pero que no suelo considerar mucho: una ciudad animada de roedores nocturnos generalmente sólo vislumbrados fugazmente. Y se me ha planteado más preguntas. ¿Cómo es que todos estos ratones y topillos logran compartir el espacio?</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">La respuesta es compleja y no completamente entendida, aunque estudios previos dan algunas pistas. Los ratones y los topillos se distinguen por sus dietas. Los ratones ciervos se alimentan de semillas, insectos y hasta huevos de aves. Por otro lado, los topillos se alimentan mayoritariamente de vegetación verde—aunque el topillo de espalda roja sureño también come hongos e invertebrados.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">¿Competencia entre topillos?</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="701" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133316232.MP_Josh-Alan-redbacked-vole-1024x701.jpg" alt="Josh Lefever (left) and Alan Moss (right) work together to mark and release a red-backed vole." class="wp-image-2943" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133316232.MP_Josh-Alan-redbacked-vole-1024x701.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133316232.MP_Josh-Alan-redbacked-vole-300x205.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133316232.MP_Josh-Alan-redbacked-vole-768x525.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_133316232.MP_Josh-Alan-redbacked-vole.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Josh Lefever (a la izquierda) y Alan Moss (a la derecha) trabajan juntos para marcar y soltar un topillo de espalda roja.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">¿Cómo podría ser que las tres especies de topillos compartan este espacio? Investigando los topillos en el cercano Parque Nacional de Grand Teton a finales de los años 1960, Tim Clark descubrió que estas tres especies además del topillo de pradera (<em>Microtus pennsylvanicus</em>) coincidían en algunos hábitats, como parches del álamo temblón. Sin embargo, se diferenciaban considerablemente en su abundancia entre hábitats diferentes. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">El topillo de pradera, por ejemplo, fue la especie menos atrapada entre los álamos temblones, pero fue abrumadoramente común en los pantanos de sauce. Dado que todas las cuatro especies parecen tener similares dietas y patrones de actividad, Clark propuso que las especies competían entre sí, empujándose a los extremos del hábitat para los que cada especie estaba mejor adaptada. Descubrió que los topillos de pradera, por ejemplo, eran más comunes en los hábitats más húmedos, mientras que los topillos montanos ocurrían en áreas más secas donde no había otras especies. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">¿Los topillos espalda roja, montanos y colilargos están compitiendo en este bosquecillo del álamo temblón, empujándose a los bordes? No sé, pero es una hipótesis interesante para considerar.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Una imagen de un mundo escondido</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-1024x768.jpg" alt="Mountain hollyhock and young aspens growing after the fire." class="wp-image-2944" style="width:600px;height:undefinedpx" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PXL_20230731_004833192.MP_-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">La malva silvestre y unos álamos temblones jóvenes crecen de nuevo después del incendio forestal.</figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Mientras caminamos de vuelta al carro, las hojas de los álamos temblones susurran suavemente en la brisa. Un gorrión de Lincoln (<em>Melospiza lincolnii</em>) está cantando cerca del arroyo, evocando memorias de otros días veraniegos que he pasado en lugares como esto. En los años que vienen, estudios como esto nos ayudarán entender mejor las maneras en las que la comunidad viva se restaura después de un incendio. Pero ya esta investigación me ha dado un vistazo increíble de la vida generalmente no vista entre los álamos. Esta ladera frondosa no sólo alberga gorriones de Lincoln, papamoscas matorraleros, grevoles engolados y extensiones de la malva silvestre. También es un lugar donde los ratones ciervo guardan semillas para el invierno. Los topillos colilargos pastan aquí; los topillos de espalda roja se esconden de los búhos; y las tuzas de montaña baten el suelo. </p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Es un vislumbre a un mundo que se esconde entre las hojas de los álamos temblones—y eso es bastante especial.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color">Lee más</h3>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Buskirk, S.W. (2016). <em>Wild mammals of Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park</em>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Clark, T.W. (1973). Local distribution and interspecies interactions in microtines, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. <em>Great Basin Naturalist</em> 33(4):205-217.</p>



<p class="has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph">Pennsylvania Game Commission. (2021). Mice and voles. Recuperado de <a href="https://www.pgc.pa.gov/Education/WildlifeNotesIndex/Documents/MiceNVoles.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.pgc.pa.gov/Education/WildlifeNotesIndex/Documents/MiceNVoles.pdf</a></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="935" src="http://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DSCN1527-1024x935.jpg" alt="A merlin perches near Helena, Montana with a vole it has caught (perhaps a meadow vole)." class="wp-image-2945" srcset="https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DSCN1527-1024x935.jpg 1024w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DSCN1527-300x274.jpg 300w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DSCN1527-768x701.jpg 768w, https://wildwithnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DSCN1527.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Un esmerejón se posa cerca de Helena, Montana con un topillo que atrapó (tal vez un topillo de pradera).</figcaption></figure>
</div><p>The post <a href="https://wildwithnature.com/2024/01/01/roedores-alamos-temblones/">Los roedores entre los álamos temblones</a> appeared first on <a href="https://wildwithnature.com">Wild With Nature</a>.</p>
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