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Moles, gophers, mice, rats and even shrews have similar characteristics and behavioral tendencies. Voles thrive on small plants yet, like shrews, they will eat dead animals and, like mice and rats, they can live on almost any nut or fruit. In addition, voles target plants more than most other small animals, making their presence evident.
In winter, eastern meadow voles consume green basal portions of grass plants, often hidden under snow. Other winter diet components include seeds, roots, and bulbs. They occasionally strip the bark from woody plants. Seeds and tubers are stored in nests and burrows. [8] [9] Evidence of coprophagy is sparse, but thought to occur. [9]
Birds not usually considered predators of mice do take voles; examples include gulls (Larus sp.), northern shrikes (Larius borealis), black-billed magpies (Pica hudsonica), common ravens (Corvus corax), American crows (C. brachyrhynchos), great blue herons (Ardea herodias), and American bitterns (Botaurus lentiginosus).
The striped field mouse excavates a short burrow with a nesting chamber at a shallow depth. It is nocturnal during the summer, but mainly diurnal in the winter. Its diet varies and includes green parts of plants, roots, seeds, berries, nuts, and insects.
It is aggressively solitary, with a home range of less than 1 acre. Pocket mice can burrow into hard-crusted soils by actually physically chewing their way through the hard portions of the soil. Their burrows, however, are usually excavated in silty, sandy, or gravelly soil and are used for refuges, seed storage, and neonatal care.
Sometimes several mice will huddle together during the winter to preserve heat. [7] It is an excellent climber and scrambles around in trees and bushes. It lives in crevices, burrows at the base of trees, holes in tree trunks, hollow logs and bird nesting boxes and sometimes enters buildings. The burrows are often extensive with many entrances ...
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Kashmir field mouse are nocturnal, terrestrial, and excellent climbers. They make grass-lined nests inside of burrows dug beneath tree roots, where they spend the day resting or taking care of their young. Even though many mice share the same burrow, the female does not allow the males to enter the burrow.