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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAugust 14, 2003 - Moles and voles_ The lowdown The Suffolk Times • August 14, 2003 o es an v � o es . e ow own � � �,�. ,,,,: Meadow voles (below) do tremendous damage to plants and shrubs by eating and digging °�%� almost anything in their path. By girdling the � bark of a tree or shrub, they can.kill it. The next time you see your favorite plant or shrub wilting �,a,�,,;, � .�w; ` �' ,���� for no apparent reason, look #or vole damage. ,, . . , � �' , , � ' 1� " ' w ��r � �^ . .. � �� �„ �M�'«� � _ � - ,� ���' , � 1� �� ��u .°' � , ��,� ..,, ,� �„ � � � �' � , � - �,. ,, � „� ,� , ; � � ��� ,„ '�b•• . , � ' ,„ �� � :�;"�.' �w'� "� � � . . ���� � ,,, ,, 7 � , ��% � '�, �P�,� � ,, �r �r »��, r�.�' � r � , r �a.�. 1i� w... M :r�'"� .. . TM� '�;'�f �,�r�,�ro r�, f ��� �a+ � � "� � �' ���,m�,��m�.� � " �w �����- .,,�� �„:r'� f�"""M►h�MM �+� � � .. ����� "��", ' ah�M"��.d �� ������; , � .,�° r °,+r , r . „ w z w, �, � , „ - � � 3r � � f, ��.�t Y M f �y .,�4.� . �� , � g .;.,,? �,""°' ;, Photos by Paul Stoutenburgh � � �� ���� � �x""� '� '� The common ground mole (above) is seldom seen out- � � ; � � . , y�,.,�w� :, 4 side its underground tunnel of raised earth. Here we "� '�,� ° ,,� � can see why it's such an expert digger, with its large , �,,. ,:, `, ►.,,,; " front feet that help move it along underground, leaving - , .:�"'�' *, ' '� ' � ` , -�'``� the telltale si n of ushed-u earth. �� '� -• � ' �. s'tt� iN �r�i�� Mi���r of onc of G r o u n d those hot muggy days of summer, yet moles have had � there are always those jobs that have �'�CV$ it easy this year � Ve een 0 t@ to be done around the place, like because we've most expensive mowing the lawn.A few weeks back [ �N had so much eoat in the worid spoke about lawnmowers clipping off NATURE rain, making the tops of baby rabbits' nests.A sim- by PeUI their tunneling was made out of ilar thing just happened to me while a lot eas�er. moleskins for a mowing my lawn.As I went along with Stoutenburgh While thcsc � the mower suddenly dust tlew up in conditions are Russian czar. the air telling me something had right, Mr. and Mrs. Mole are busy changed.1 had clipped off the top of a pushing up their underground trails in ground mole's raised tunnel. m lawn and es even in my garden. I often get calls from people who �p� motionless vo e urrows un er t e snow and wonder what has happened to their by a mole hill that he had pressed makes its runways every which way in lawn.They think whatever it is,it's after �O�'n, just waiting for the mole to search of food.There under the snow it their nice green lawn, but it isn't.The come along and push up its flattened is protected because most predators culprit is a ground mole,which is after tunnel.Then, with a shovel, he would cannot see voles under the snow. Yet the grubs in the lawn. No grubs, no Quickly jab in back of it so the ground the owl and fox have hearing so acute moles. Ground moles are carnivorous mole couldn't reverse itself and get that they can hear the vole under the creatures and live mainly on earth- away. He'd then scoop up the earth snow,gnawing away.They can calculate �vorms, grubs, beetles and just about and ground mole and throw it all out just where the sound is coming from anything that lives in the earth. If you on the ground. and drop on it.Pretty remarkable. have any quantity of the above,sooner 'I'hey make a mole And so, one af the differences or later you'll have a good chance of a trap, which I alway between a vole and a mole is that the ground mole seeking them out. thought was useless. I mole eats mostly insects, worms, bugs I've been told the most expensive consists of a series o — that kind of thing — and the vole coat in the world was one made out of sharp steel points that, e�ts grasses,bark and other plant foods. moleskins far a Russian czar. I can see once put in position But believe it or not,there is a good why. Imagine skinning something as over a flattened ridge of� �;�e to the vole if you can think of it in small as a mouse and then sewing a mole run, are then this sense. Let me take you to an enough of those skins together to make rea y to e set off as the mole comes i�land off our East End, called Gull a lon flowin robe. The reason that along and pushes the soil up,setting off g' g the tra and runnin the lon needlelikc Island. It's a bird sanctuary for terns they used the skin of the mole is P g g run by the Museum of Natural because of its s ecial ualities and beau- points into the mole. P q }1 istory.Terns are the little white birds t . Because the mole moves forward Probably the most effective way to y et rid of round moles is to et one of You see diving for food in our bays and backward in its tight underground he s ra s that ou ut on our lawn.It and creeks. Gull Island is the place quarters,its fur is smooth when brushed p y y p y they nest and raise their oun either wa ,which is uni ue in furs.The kills the grubs and eliminates that y g� y q attraction for the mole.Personall I'm Believe it or not, they come from as very best velvet cannot compare to the not for these s ra s I'ust fi ure I']liv far away as Argentina to this island, softness and feel of the moleskin. p y ' � g many of them flying the 5,000-plus There are man other kinds of �'ith them — forget the quick cwe. and let the mole feast on the grubs. miles in as little as three weeks. mo es.One that I havedt seen and yet Eventually he'll go to greener pastures. To get back to my story of ineado hc>pe some day to see is the star-nosed voles, they're ferocious grass eaters. mole. It has ]ittle appendages at the A vole by any other name These little critters eat almost thei cnd of its nose that give it its name The other little fellow that you'll weight in food daily.At one time Gull and help it detect and find its prey. find in your garden is the vole o Island was covered with grass, plants Most of the time a mole lives in the meadow mouse or meadow vole. and bushes, so much so the terns darkness underground. Only occa- More often it will inhabit open fields Weren't nesting to their capacity sionally do we ever see them above- like my pasture in back. If you are a because of the thick vegetation.Terns ground They have huge, mitten-like good observer,you will notice its run- ��ke open areas like beaches and places claws on their front feet, ways in ihe grass where voles have that are free of plant life.Then some- with which they dig. They actually eaten away a tunnel of grass one got the bright idea to import voles have a short tail,as there's aboveground. You don't find their to eat this vegetation,which they did. no need for a long one in grass tunnels in your lawn but you can their underground tunnels. find evidence of them in your garden. The voles multiplied like crazy Their tiny eyes are practi- Voles are stocky little creatures, a because there were no predators. cally useless. They have little larger than a mouse. They have Wei�� You guessed it. They ate the sharp teeth, so once they short legs and a short tail.These little grass so well that in one or two years detect their prey, it's soon guys are exposed to predators like they practically eliminated the vegeta- made into a meal.You can't see t eir owls and foxes and cats and others. tion, doubling the tern habitat and ears,for they're hidden in the soft,dull They're active mostly at night.Besides increasing the tern population. So black of their fur. Their hearing is causing havoc in your garden, they there was a case where meadow voles, most acute and they can detect the ause tremendous damage for the �nstead of doing damage, were doing slightest movement aboveground and rehard grower and the nurseryman. something useful. To this day, the scurry to safety. A meadow vole will eat the bark oi island is still run by the Museum of My dad used to cuss ground moles oung trees and shrubs and,if it girdles Natural History and is producing because they were always undermin- hem completely, it will cause the tree �mportant information on migration, ing his garden. I often saw him stand- r shrub to die. They can do a great food habits and a host of other things ical of damage. If it snows, then the that sooner or later relate to humans.