Decelmber 18, 1990 - Busy Woodland MouseDecember 18, 1980
'aIj' *aloft Z.
Busy Woodland Mouse
Everybody sooner or later comes across
one sort of mouse or another. Most of us
have had our problems with the common
gray house Mouse_ This fellow is so small
and inquisitive that it takes special effort
to keep him from entering our home and
finding out where the fond supplies are.
Then if you don't. happen to actually find
him soon enough before the damage is
done you will always be able to know he's
been there by finding his little black
"calling cards" scattered along your
shelves.
Of all the little creatures that scurry
about in one form or another in our area
the beautiful whit: foiled mouse or deer
mouse is the favorite of most 'Typically
he's a woodland mouse in our part of the
land but he'll take up residency in just
about any area the country offers in-
cluding Canada. He's called a deer mouse
because of his close resemblance to the
color of the while-tailed deer, a beautiful
rich brown. He has Intl heady black eyes
that enable hire to: r well at night. For it_ is
during this time pm0:1. of his carousing, is
done. This coupled with his large ears and
white underparts and feet makes him one
of our handsomest mice.
I firs( lx'c,une acquainted with him when
I was in grade school. Our house was but a
converter( summer bungalow with what
was called a bong Island cellar under it.
Because of this make -shill found :Won,
there were many places that mice and
• "1)110•)'" carnal V6;ile1'S could gel into and
whenever the temperature droplx'd in the
tall we had our usual invasion from out-
side. We could 1)11 'o hear theft scurrying
around in the rafters and in Ihc• partitions
as we sal reading in Ihc evening!,.
11 was my jot, to rid Ihc house of these
woodland intruders of course, there was
always the snap trap that would bring up
that limp beautiful ( 0 0 1 (2 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 . morning
and this disturbed (ne so I invested or
copied whatever makeshift. live trap 1
could find.
I can remember a classic hook of out-
door crafts that was tattered and tout from
hours 1)1 dreaming, through and it was from
this volume I built many varied live
rat iliscll'aps. Nome had spring doors,
others sliding doors, others were trade of
ftallon jugs while still others had brown
paper stretched across 0 five gallon can
with slits in the top so when the mouse
ventured across to a bait he'd slide into the
container. 1 tried (hunt all and had fairly
good success.
My problem was 1 never wanted to get on them quite closely. He was perched
rid of them. For a while I'd keep them in deep in the pine and so as not. to scare him
00 old aquarium where I could watch and we circled the tree and all got down on our
observe them but after a while things got hands and knees and moved in for a closer
sort of crowded. 11 was then I'd head up look. As we did so we scared up a deer
into the woods and let theft go. I'm sure mouse who immediately took to the tree to
many of them sooner or later found their escape the invading circle of people. Like a
way back into our house. flash the owl was on the mouse and picked
Later in life i often carte across these it off the limb as you would pick an apple
beautiful little creatures. Once when out off a tree.
IP on Gardiners Island on a Christmas Bird I can remember it to this day - that limp
Count i went into an old abandoned fishing mouse hanging under that little owl and
shack 00 the south end to get out of the everyone watching one of nature's true -to-
wind. While there I lifted the cover of an life adventures. The mouse had become
01(1 (('(1)d stove and curled up in a neat 101(1 of the food chain of the owl.
elaborate nest were five or six white- Each has its place in the scheme of
- footed mice in semi- hibernation. They had things in life and until man realizes this
made lh st out of an old mattress and realizes that he is just part of this
from ou hey knew a safe place when scheme we will not truly appreciate and
they sa ater I'111. sure as the t.em- understand our place in the world. We
peratur1e.l warmed up, they'd be up and roust take into account the need for
about feeding on their stored food supply everything in the natural world.
• nearby. PAULSTOUTENBURGI.1
PE
These little fellows are great hoarders.
Often I've found.t heir caches of cherry pits
or other seeds in old logs I've split for
firewood or even in an old abandoned bird
house. And in my garage they have the
corners gnawed off the doors just for their
special entrance. It's in underneath all the
debris when i clean up that 1 find their
hidden hickory nuts neatly eaten out and
discarded. '!here's is a life of continual
food gathering and eating. In this respect
they do a great deal of grx,'d for it's been
reported (hat half of their diet is insects,
the other half plant food of one sort or
another.
Once when we lived in a makeshift room
attached to a garage as our house was
hcin( built we were awakened by the
continual scampering back and forth of
"some sort. of creature ". At least that's
:what Barbara called it. I put off in-
vestigating for as long as I could but .
finally in the wee hours of the morning I
got no and checked every crevice in the
roam. After all we did have a baby
sleeping near by us.
What I !(hand was that a deer mouse had
been disturbed when we moved in and
Mrs;. Whitefoot could not wait another
minute for she was expecting and so hack
and forth all night. she went to the baby's
blanket. taking pieces of wool io make her
new nest under the sink. By the time I
finally located the nest, nature had Laken
over and there were five tiny, naked, pink
blind baby mice. Needless to say having
babies of our own we were very partial.
The nest sites of mice are usually quite
creative. Once 1 found one that occupied
nu old bird's nest about five feet up in some
shrubbery and i've often come across their
nests and used supplies in my bird houses
when I clean them out. in the spring. Deer
rice are expert climbers and twenty feet
in a tree is no adventure to them.
Once when 1 was traveling with a group
of young lwople 011 a birding trip in
Jamaica Iiay we spotted a saw -whet owl in
a low pine tree.Saw -whet owls are usually
not afraid of man and will let you walk up
WHITE- FOOTED MOUSE - -An agile climber who often takes to the
trees to escape foxes, snakes and other predators.
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
1179 Route 58
Riverhead 727 -1230
Mon.-Thurs. 9 to 13
Fri. 9 to 9.
Sal 9 to 5:30