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Quoting "James W. Wolford" <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>:
> I agree with John's and Paul's remarks here that a meadow vole or
> any small mammal (other than a water shrew) is out of its element
> and in very dangerous territory!
* this interpretation depends on the kind of waterbody the Vole is
swimming in. I've only seen them swimming in little pools and roadside
ditches where the biggest fish is a Brook Stickleback or Mudminnow,
and I've always regarded their progress as impressively efficient. A
lot of their habitat is near or periodically flooded by water, so they
need to get around in it, especially in the +15C to -30C winters on
our dead-flat landscape (what we call the "environment from Hell for
Microtines"). Meadow voles are the only Microtine we have, except in
bogs, and their ability to swim may well be a big part of their success.
fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm
Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm
Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
South Nation Basin Art & Science Book
http://pinicola.ca/books/SNR_book.htm
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
------------------------------------------------------------
When I was in central Alberta, Edmonton,
> back in the 1960s/1970s, one Spring there was an outbreak/irruption
> of huge numbers of meadow voles out near the University Farm &
> Forestry Centre. In that winter the voles had reproduced under the
> adequate blanket of snow to produce a very impressive high or peak
> population in their short 3-5-yr. cycle of abundance. At that time
> in the Spring, the snow melt had produced lots and lots of standing
> water on the fields and along the fencerows and roadsides. We went
> out at night with flashlights and the voles running about and
> swimming everywhere was quite a sight. And along the fencerows the
> voles were amassed into flowing and leaping hordes in stream-like
> lines. Every once in a while a small body would leap out of the
> "stream" of voles and fall back into it -- a house mouse among the
> voles. What a memory! At least these very shallow melt-ponds
> didn't have any fishes in them. But I'm sure that terrestrial
> predators of wild and domestic types had a field day for a while
> that Spring, and that the Summer of that year saw extremely few
> meadow voles.
>
> Cheers from Jim in Wolfville.
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-
>> owner@chebucto.ns.ca] On Behalf Of Paul MacDonald
>> Sent: November-04-12 9:18 AM
>> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] meadow vole swimming
>>
>> And Nancy Fish think they are a lovely snack!
>> Paul
>>
>>
>> From: Nancy Dowd <nancydowd318@yahoo.ca>
>> To: naturens <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
>> Sent: Sunday, November 4, 2012 9:02:33 AM
>> Subject: [NatureNS] meadow vole swimming
>>
>>
>> Yesterday on Big Mush-a-Mush Lake my brother saw a Meadow Vole
>> swimming near shore. It was larger than a House Mouse, greyish and
>> swimming on the surface so we are guessing we have the
>> identification correct. I have seen these along the lakeshore but
>> did not know they could swim.
>>
>> Nancy
>>
>>
>
>
--
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