Valiant, Vulnerable Voles (and lots ov pictures!)

This week I had an interesting experience with some baby voles in my yard.  I have a screened porch off the back of my house that opens onto a small deck.  One day this week, I opened the back door and saw a little furry ball on the mat by the deck doorway.  It was not moving much, so I went to investigate.  I found myself up-close-and-personal with a very small vole.  That, in and of itself, was quite unusual.  I know I have voles in the yard because I occasionally see one under the bird feeder (through my office window) and I see their trails under the snow as it melts in late spring.  But, I am usually unable to get anywhere near a vole, and the best pictures I can get are through the office window with the zoom lens.  Instead, I had this view, a few inches from my nose.

Immediately, given this behaviour, I knew something was wrong.  Voles are typically skittish and fast and very good at not being photographed.  They don't do this:

Worried about my little friend, I immediately found a small box and put a handful of chicken scratch grains in it, and sat my little friend in the box, whereupon it immediately began to eat.  I gave it a soft little pat (honestly, it was impossible not to do so) and sat to watch it and have a bit of a think about what to do.

As I sat thinking, I heard a small rustling noise out on the deck.  A quick investigation uncovered a sibling, and I thought my little friend needed company, so I was able to catch the second one and put it into the box as well.

They both ate seeds and explored the box.  I decided to set up a small cage that I had in storage, just to see if the poorly one would improve with a bit of food and drink.  I thought it might be good to keep it safe from birds of prey and other predators for a few hours.  It was definitely much slower than its sibling, and was almost stumbling at times.  

I left them for a while and went back out a few hours later to check on them.  They were both walking around, and I thought the weaker one was doing better, so I decided to let them go.  I put them back out on the deck where they had been.  I decided to sit and watch them for a while, and that was the most delightful experience I've had in a long time.

Can I climb this?

I think I can!

Watch me go!  

Nearly there!

Hurry up!

Hooray!  I'm at the top!

Seriously, does it get any cuter than this?  You can see the one on the right still looks a bit rough.  Its eyes are not quite as bright and alert.  I was still a bit concerned.

Suddenly, there was a little more rustling...and a third one appeared!

I was just riveted, watching these tiny vole siblings running all along the deck steps and in and out of the flowerpots.

Absolutely charming!

I put out some more seed and hoped they would all enjoy it.

I also set up some broken bricks for a climbing exercise area.  They immediately tried it out.

Then I had to go back in the house.  I worked for a while, and then came back out to find them all gone...except for the poorly one.  It was still in one of the flowerpots, but more-or-less lifeless.  It was on its side, feet all stuck out, and cold.  I held it in my hand and saw it making little gasping breaths.  I felt so terribly sad.  I didn't want it to die alone in the flowerpot, so I sat with it in my hand, expecting the end soon.  The end didn't happen all that soon, so I took it inside because I had a long to-do list and needed to get busy.  I just wanted it to be comfortable.  I lay it down on a soft cloth on the top of my dehydrator, which was busy dehydrating tomatoes, and was quite warm as a result.  I thought at least it would die in a warm spot instead of in a cold flowerpot.  I got busy with things in the kitchen and when I checked in about half an hour later, it was sitting up!  I was stunned.  I was absolutely sure it would be dead. 

I hastily got out a syringe that has a tiny plastic tip for administering medications to animals.  I heated a small amount of oat milk, and got some into the syringe.  I managed to get my wee vole to take a drop, and then it put its paws up on the syringe barrel and had several more drops.  I was amazed.  I've never had a creature that was so cold and lifeless and gasping actually make a recovery.  But we weren't out of the woods yet, so I got the cage ready again but this time, I put a heating pad underneath it on low, so that it would keep warm.  Without its littermates, it would be hard to keep warm by itself.  I put it into the cage with seeds and water and a piece of apple, and went about the rest of my day with regular checks on my tiny friend, who was hanging in there, so I kept my fingers crossed.

Honestly, I didn't have high hopes.  I just wanted to do my best for it, but I also know that nature is tough, and this little one was having a difficult time, and sometimes there's nothing we can do.  I checked on it regularly and it had burrowed down into the bedding.  I could still easily touch it and so I gave it more oat milk and told it what a good vole it was and tried to be the best substitute mother vole that I could be.  

By this morning, it had been in the house for 2 days in the heated cage, and I can tell you that as of this morning, that vole has somehow installed rocket-powered boosters on its feet, because it was super fast, and it would have nothing to do with me trying to touch it.  In fact, it had a good attempt at biting my finger, which was very encouraging.  It was just as fast as its siblings were 2 days ago, and was showing no signs of its former dopey, slow self.  

Yesterday I saw one of the siblings still in the same area, so I released my tiny friend this afternoon in the warmest part of the day.  I'd like to think that this vole is quite lucky to have been born in my yard and to have such a rodent-loving, garden-providing human as its caretaker, but I also think I'm even more lucky to have had such a remarkable experience with this lovely gift of nature. I got a picture of it just before release, and I think you can see that its eyes are much more alert. 

Most of the post-release pictures looked like this.  Zoom zoom!

A last clear shot, and then it was off, into the garden beds!  Hooray!  Live long, little vole!

In case you're interested, my tiny friend is a southern red-backed vole (Myodes gapperi).  The reddish brown stripe of fur down its back is a distinctive quality of this vole species.  They eat seeds, roots, nuts, berries, and some insects, and also some green plants.  I never see any damage from voles in my yard, but they have plenty of food sources in the woods surrounding me.  Mother voles have 2 to 4 litters per year of 2 to 8 young.  The average lifespan of a vole in the wild is 3 to 6 months.  It's hard being at the bottom of the food chain.  I'm glad I was able to give this little one a chance.  A lot of people think that voles are mice.  Mice have longer tails and their noses are more pointed, whereas voles have a more blunt, rounded nose.  Their ears are also smaller than most mouse ears.  Of course, if you just catch a fleeting glimpse, it's hard to say for sure.  I hope you get to see one someday!

Helping a Vole

Today our cat, Mitten, had a small vole in his clutches. I, being the sort of person I am, and knowing that Mitten is perfectly well fed, was compelled to rescue the vole. I was able to grab it and put it into a bucket. It was a very young vole, not even close to full size. I named it Voley-vole.

I'd say it was about half the size of a standard vole (unfortunately I know this from a few that I didn't manage to rescue in time).  It is a southern red-backed vole (Myodes gapperi) as one can tell from the colour of its fur, and since there are only a few vole species that live here, that is a distinguishing feature.  Its fur was a bit bedraggled after having been mouthed by a cat, but it will dry off.

If you are not familiar with voles, you might be thinking that I'm talking about a mole.  Moles are quite different from voles.  They are larger and have bigger feet for tunneling under the earth.  They make little dirt mounds in your yard, if you have them.  Voles make little tunnels under snow, which are obvious as the snow melts. 

Voles are approximately mouse-sized, or a bit bigger, but they are not mice.  They have shorter tails and smaller ears than many mice, and a more rounded nose, whereas mice have pointy noses.  Then there are shrews, which are even more pointy-nosed, but they have extremely tiny eyes. 

Anyway, after rescuing Voley-vole, I put it into a bucket with some chicken grain so it could replenish its energy.  It ate heartily, and did some cute little face washing with its paws.  I'm such a soft heart when it comes to little animals.  I had to pet Voley-vole while it was in the bucket.  No, it didn't bite me.  No, I will not get rabies.  Or fleas.  Or the plague.

After it seemed to have eaten all the grain it wanted, I released it into the woods where I know the voles like to live.  I put the bucket on its side and Voley-Vole came to the edge of the bucket and hopped out onto the ground. 

Then, it promptly ran over to my shoe and hopped up on my toe.  It sat there for a good 15 or 20 seconds before hopping down again and running under the leaves and making its way in the world.  I felt, with apologies for my anthropomorphism, that it was saying thank you. Be well, Voley-vole.  You are much loved.

Friday's Hunt v 3.20

It's Friday again, and another busy week has passed by.  We've had loads of rain over the past few weeks here in eastern Canada, and there's more rain on the way.  It might result in some heavy mosquito populations this year, which doesn't make me very happy, but at least I have the screened-in porch to sit in (if I ever get the time) where I won't be eaten by bugs!

Today's prompts from Eden Hills are:  Starts with T, Week's Favourite, and Food.

Starts with T:
Silly me - I did a big post all about my tulips yesterday.  Do check it out if you like flowers and have the time to take a peek.  I guess I can't do tulips again.  This week I took some photographs of a pair of mourning doves who came to eat the seeds under my bird feeder.  The name for mourning doves in French is Tourterelle Triste.

The word tourterelle means "turtle dove" (such as the 3 turtle doves in the Christmas carol).  The word triste means sad.  So the literal translation is sad turtle dove.  This is approximately the same as our English name, mourning dove.

I had not really noticed before, but the tourterelle triste has a patch of iridescent feathers on the side of its neck.  They were glistening in the sun yesterday, and it was quite noticeable.

Bonus tulip, just for fun.  My favourite one.

Week's Favourite:
I really like this picture I took of a blue jay in my yard - they are very skittish and not always easy to photograph.  I was really happy to get this clear shot.

I was also really pleased with some pictures I took of a southern red-backed vole.  They are through the window, so not perfect, but still not bad for such a tiny critter.  This was my favourite picture, with his tiny paws showing.  Absolutely adorable!

Food:
I am very interested in bees.  They are such a vital part of our ecosystem, and they need all the help they can get these days.  I was therefore concerned when I recently noticed a bumblebee on the screen of my screened in porch over several days.  It has been there for at least 3 days, which is the length of time I've been watching a robin make its nest (another post!) and I was becoming concerned about my buzzing little friend.  The bee had not moved at all for the past 2 days, and we have had very wet, dreary and cool weather.  Sometimes, early in the spring (which it certainly is here), bumblebees can get tired and cold.  There are not many flowers blooming yet, so their food sources are a bit scarce and the weather isn't helping.  If they are unable to get enough nectar to retain body temperature, they cannot fly, and they will just sit somewhere until they die.  So, my bee needed FOOD!

I brought my little fuzzy friend inside and prepared a slightly warm solution of about 30% honey and 70% water, in accordance with advice I found on a bee web site.  I put her in a bowl with a few leaves and sprinkled the solution on the leaves, and then poked some holes in a plastic wrap topper for the bowl.  I then set her on my desk near my work lamp where it is warm.  Here is the bee on a leaf.


Within about 30 minutes, my little friend was drinking the honey water and within about half an hour, she was already buzzing around the bowl.  It was remarkable how quickly she perked up after so many days of being immobile.  What started out as a clumsy and stumbling bee was now a normally-behaving, energetic bee.  Here she is with her tongue out - you can see it in the front touching the bottom of the bowl.  She was quickly ingesting the honey solution.  I believe it is Bombus impatiens, the common eastern bumble bee.


Every bee's life counts in today's environment, with these critical pollinators being subject to many challenging conditions.  I'm glad that I was able to help this bee get back on its feet.

Friday's Hunt v 3.02

It's time for Eden Hills' Friday's Hunt again.  This week, our prompts are:  Starts with B, Week's Favourite, and Creature.

Starts with B
Today I thought I'd share some thoughts about bark.  All trees have it, and it tends to be overlooked as one is walking in the woods.  It's just part of the scenery.  However, bark has a lot of functions - it protects the trees in numerous ways, it provides habitat for insects and thus provides food for birds. It also provides humans with some useful products, such as cork.

I'm particularly fond of birch bark.  I have a lot of birch trees in my yard, and their bark makes a lovely contrast because of its predominantly white colour.  We have three species of birch here - white birch, yellow birch and grey birch.  I'm not an expert on differentiating between these species, although I believe that the two pictures of birch bark that I show below are two different species - the second one certainly has a more yellowish-golden look to it.

Sometimes bark also provides a habitat for moss and lichen.  Here is a close up of a tree in my woods that is certainly providing a good home for a variety of lichens.  I'm no expert on lichen identification, so I can't name these for you.

Week's Favourite(s)
I finished knitting my sheep hat, and I'm really happy with it!

I also took an interesting picture of snow that had fallen onto the top of a young spruce.  I think it sort of looks like a big white starfish sitting on top of the tree!

Creature
Most of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I'm very fond of the little creatures that scuttle around in the undergrowth of the woods.  In the winter, I think they have trouble finding enough food sometimes, and they are all too often food for other creatures.  I recently took some more pictures of a vole under my bird feeder.  I'm glad to have it visiting, and I hope it keeps its tummy full as a result!  The vole is hard to photograph because it's so quick, and I'm always taking the pictures through my home office window, but I got some reasonably good ones this time!

Peeking out to see if it's safe!

Grabbing a sunflower seed.

Peek-a-boo!

The vole and the squirrel have a series of tunnels under the snow.  I can tell which tunnel belongs to each creature by the size of the opening, although sometimes the vole uses the squirrel tunnels (but not vice versa).

Friday's Hunt v. 2.22

Friday rolls around every week, and here's my post for Eden Hills' Friday's Hunt.

This week's prompts are:  Starts with V, Week's Favourite, and Thankful.

Starts with V
Last week, you might remember that I shared a picture of a shrew that was gathering seed under my bird feeder.  This week, as if it knew that I needed a letter V picture, a vole showed up in the same place (at least, I'm fairly sure it's a vole, since it definitely isn't a shrew or a mouse).  I was so excited to actually see the vole and be able to photograph it through the window.  The pictures aren't great because they are through window glass, and also because the vole is very fast.  I tried to do some research on vole species that live here in New Brunswick and I think the only one it can be is the meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus).

I think he (or she) is just the cutest little critter!  I love that golden brown fur and those sweet little ears.

Voles do look somewhat similar to mice, but they have a more rounded nose.

You can also see that the tail is relatively short, at least compared to a mouse tail.

If anyone thinks it's not a vole - please let me know!  I'm not a vole expert - its just my best, semi-educated guess.

Week's Favourite
My favourite shot this week was something I haven't seen before - at least not quite like this.  We had our first snow on Thursday morning, and when I went outside to fill the bird feeders and look for picture opportunities, I saw this unusual sight.

It's a strand of spider web hanging from the gutter all the way down to the steps, and snowflakes had adhered along the entire length of the strand, making a glittering string of snowflakes in front of the door.

I have seen snowflakes on spider webs before, but never on a single long strand like this.

Thankful
It was Thanksgiving in the USA this week.  In Canada, we have Thanksgiving in October.  This year, it was on October 10th.  Even though it isn't Thanksgiving time here, I often count my blessings, and think about the many things I have to be thankful for.  Among the many things I am thankful for every day (in no particular order) are:

• my wonderful husband, Marc
• my dear parents, who have always been there for me through thick and thin
• my spinning and knitting friends, with whom I spend happy hours pursuing my hobbies and sharing their good company
• friends in many parts of the world - some in places I have lived, some that I have never actually met, but all of whom are special to me and whose friendships I value dearly
• the ability to work for myself doing something that I enjoy
• the opportunities I have had in life for a good education, a multi-faceted career, and broad experience in travel, arts, culture and history
• my furry and fleecy friends who make me smile every day

I'm especially thankful for the home where I now live and its beautiful surroundings.  I feel very lucky to have found this home and to be able to share it with Marc, and to have a yard where I can walk around and see the magic of nature each and every day.  Here are a few photos of the surroundings for which I am always thankful.