March 08, 1984 - Mice in the WoodshedPlage 12A The Suffo,1k,Tiipe&
March 8, 1984
JKke in the Woodshed
By PAULSTOUTENBURGH
My trips to the woodshed are becoming
less regular with the milder weather
we've been having. A bit of heat in the
morning usually carries us through the
day. I have a feeling it's too good to be
true.
On my last visit to the woodshed,
memories of a high school English class
flashed before me. It had to do with Miss
Diller trying to indoctrinate the class into
poetry using Robert Burns' works. The
line that is so famous, "The best laid
plans of mice and men..." flashed before
me as I took a log off the pile that
exposed the nest of a wood mouse.
Havoc often disrupts mice nests in the
field, whether by a marauding fox or the
neighborhood cat. I disrupted one of
them myself once when we were shoring
up my boat. We lifted up a cement block
without realizing that it housed a family
of mice. Out popped mother and her
young. They were almost fully grown but
still nursing. Nevertheless, the
disturbance caused her to run off with
the young clinging to her. I found myself
watching and feeling very disturbed.
How would they survive? Being
somewhat of a realist, I knew that cat or
fox or even a snake would have dined
with pleasure without a thought. All I
could do was wish them godspeed.
This nest in the wood pile was made of
small bits of leaves and fine wooden
fibers intermingled with many small
bird feathers. Seems the mouse knew the
importance of feather insulation. I
carefully peeked into the covered mass
to see if the nest was occupied... but no.
They must have heard me loading the
wood and deserted.
Inside was a neat round nest chamber
that I'm sure at one time had housed its
family of young. In the woods every nook
and cranny is investigated by these
beady -eyed deer - colored mice. Their
underparts are white and I must say they
make interesting looking little creatures.
Each year I have to go through the
woods and check my birdhouses, for
climbing is no problem to the deer mouse
and many a birdhouse turns into a cache
of nuts or their nest for the winter. I've
also found their homes in abandoned bird
nests. They just add a little more
material, a waterproof top and live in
there curled up through the cold winter
months.
Cat Loses Mouse
Our cat one day caught a young mouse
and was playing with it out on the lawn. It
would throw it in the air, let it run and
then pounce on it. Over and over he'd
play with it. Then one time as he let it
run, it was near a tree and the mouse
took this escape route. Up the tree he
went. Well, we all know cats can climb
trees but for some reason our cat just
couldn't put it all together and kept
looking around and around wondering
where the mouse had gone. Every leaf
was checked. Every hummock was
investigated but no mouse! After a while
the cat left in disgust and as far as I know
the mouse lived happily ever after.
Where the mouse that built the nest in
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Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
CACHE OF HICKORY NUTS - -Mice, like squirrels, collect all sorts of
nuts and seeds to carry them through the cold winter months. The
hollowed shells vouch for their ability to take advantage of this high
source of protein energy.
our wood pile went I do not know. I found
his cache of partly eaten hickory nuts in
the wood pile. Everyone knows hickory
nuts have just about the hardest shell
there is but these mice can miraculously
gnaw through to extract the high protein
food within. When stored these nuts
become the mouse's reserve food supply
throughout the winter. Of course, if there
are oak trees around or cherry pits from
the wild cherries or any other seeds,
these will be cached away for later use
also.
These with occasional insect eggs and
hibernating bugs of all sorts and an
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occasional fresh root, keep this little
fellow going most of the winter. I'm sure
some of you have even found these deer
mice in your homes.
I put the nesting material back
carefully and left it, hoping the mouse
would return later but it never did. Mice,
like people, can adapt to sudden changes.
I'm sure way back in another part of the
wood pile that mouse has already started
to rebuild and is contemplating a nest of
squirming little mice in the near future.
After all, isn't it that drive of providing a
home and bringing up young that keeps
our world going?
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