shrew and earthstars

Talking to Rita on Sunday, as we sat on her porch, she informed me that the critter Doof has been bringing home is likely a shrew. I had thought he was digging up small moles, because he was obviously digging, and the little things had short tails and longer snouts. As she has lived in, and loved, the country far longer than I have, I’ll take her word for it.

Having access to the Internet, I went on an information expedition. Blarina brevicauda is the formal name for the northern short-tailed shrew. Their preferred habitat is woodlands, but unfortunately, they also like my flower gardens. They may not burrow as deeply as moles, but I can attest to the fact that they DO burrow. Just walking across the middle level of the yard, on the way to the fire pit, you have to be careful not to twist an ankle. According to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology website, they are 3 to 4 inches long and have soft slate gray fur. They are not sociable but are territorial and mark their areas with a foul-tasting secretion. They have poor sense of smell and vision, using a form of echolocation, similar to bats. Female shrews can have multiple litters, averaging 6 babies, throughout the warm months of the year, starting at about 65 days old. Shrews are voracious eaters; it’s estimated they consume and metabolize as much as three times their weight, daily. As squirrels do, they store food for the winter. Their salivary glands produce a toxic substance which is effective in subduing their prey, which enables them to kill and eat animals much larger than themselves. Because they eat insects, snails, and mice and have such voracious appetites, they help control crop pest populations. For my lawn and garden, Doof can keep up the good work. As far as the slugs and snails go, kudos to the shrew!



After the rain eased yesterday, I found a number of interesting growths around an oak stump. I knew it was a fungus of some sort, but I had never figured out what kind. So, back on the internet, I found the earthstar, botanically geastrum saccatum. I hadn’t noticed them in their pre-adult phase, a smooth, egg-shaped ball with a pointed beak. The ones I found had opened, the outer skin peeling back to form 4 to 9 triangular petals, with a soft looking punctured ball in the center. The petals are thick and tan. It makes a pretty flower. I’m going to try to keep a couple, see if they’ll last.