Nesting box mice

All of the local schools are on Spring Break right now.  What does that mean for me?  It means that I have a few days of schedule-free time available.  I am using that time to do spring maintenance on pollinator gardens and bluebird nesting boxes. 

One of the hazards of doing maintenance on nesting boxes...

Oh, hello!  Sorry, but this space is occupied!

Mice like to take up residence in the boxes during the winter months.  This is especially true in the boxes that we have at Winn Elementary.  The boxes are in a fencerow and are easy for mice to access.  I think the mouse total this year was only ten (spread between a dozen nest boxes); last years total was fifteen mice.   I expect the mice here, but sometimes a teacher from Winn Elementary cleans out the boxes... 

The mice that take up residence are one of two species, the Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) or the the White-footed Mouse (P. leucopus).  The two species are very similar, but I think this one might be a White-footed based on its orange-brown fur - Deer Mice are generally grey-brown.

The sad evictee must now find a new residence...

Surpise monarch predation

Yesterday (Sunday) Shara and I stopped into her classroom to drop off her new classroom pet and to tag and release a couple of Monarch butterflies that had emerged from their chrysalises late on Friday.  When we got into her classroom we could see that something was not right.

There were no Monarchs fluttering in the pop-up habitat.

When we looked inside this is the scene that greeted us.

The destruction at the bottom off the habitat

Discarded wings from a dead Monarch

Every single chrysalis had been pulled from the top of the container and and its contents devoured.  All that remained of the two adult Monarchs was a pile of wings.

What caused this destruction?

Sometime between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning a mouse discovered the enclosure, climbed to the top of the habitat, chewed an entry hole and slipped inside.  After eating every living thing inside, it climbed back out the same entry hole and disappeared.

The total loss was two adult monarchs and about a dozen chrysalises.

It could have been worse.  We still have 10 chrysalises at home in a different container.

Almost every year we lose a few caterpillars/chrysalises to parasites.  Sometimes we have a few that are deformed by a protozoa infection.  Losing almost half of our year's crop of Monarchs to a mouse was something that we never expected.

Jump Around! Jump Around!

One last photo to share from my recent trip to the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Quigley Creek Natural Area in Mecosta County. 

At one point, while walking along the boundary between a wooded upland area and the swamp that can be found along Quigley Creek, I saw something jump away from me.  My first instinct was to think that it was a Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus).  I was expecting to see Wood Frogs in this habitat.

After the animal's second jump, I could see it peeking out from under a fallen branch.  It was definitely not a Wood Frog.  This animal had fur!
 

Woodland Jumping Mouse - note dark strip down back, orange sides, and long tail

I believe this to be a Woodland Jumping Mouse (Napaeozapus insignis).  It is hard to distinguish between this species and the similar Meadow Jumping Mouse without counting its teeth.  I based my identification on its habitat (woods/swamp) and its tri-colored appearance with a dark strip down its back, orangish flanks, and pale belly.  It lacks the white-tip on its tail that is (supposedly) characteristic of the species, but based on my readings this is not a reliable field mark.  Most range maps show Mecosta County well out of its range, but the Michigan DNR has a map showing range this far south in the state. 

I was only able to get two pictures of this mouse before it scurried under a log.  Still it was an exciting find for me.  This is the first time I have found any species of jumping mouse.