Meadow Vole
Relatives in same Genus
Rock Vole (M. chrotorrhinus)
Long-tailed Vole (M. longicaudus)
Singing Vole (M. miurus)
Tundra Vole (M. oeconomus)
Woodland Vole (M. pinetorum) ...
Meadow Voles usually occur in extensive colonies. However they are aggressive and pugnacious, fighting whenever strangers meet. The females dominate the males.
The Meadow Vole was first reported by Ord, 1815. In general members of this order are found all over the world, except for Antarctica. The largest living rodent weighs around 50 kilograms or 110 pounds, and this is called the capybara.
Once winter has spread her blanket of snow, the meadow vole spends the winter constructing a labyrinth of snow tunnels. The tunnels provide a steady environment protecting these animals from the normal fluctuations of cold and wind.
Meadow Vole Microtus pennsylvanicus pennsylvanicus (Ord)
Description: The meadow vole can be distinguished from other members of its family by: 1) small eyes, 2) long, soft, dark brownish-black dorsal hair, 3) silvery to dark gray underparts, ...
Meadow Vole
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Microtus pennsylvanicus - adult (right), juvenile (left)
Click to enlarge. (133 kb) ...
Meadow Vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus pennsylvanicus)
Rock Vole (Microtus chrotorrhinus)
Southern Bog Lemming (Synaptomys cooperi stonei) ...
Meadow Vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) - C
Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) - C
Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus) - U ...
The meadow vole is the most widespread and is common all over Minnesota.
Genus Microtus (meadow voles)
Species Microtus abbreviatus (insular vole)
Species Microtus agrestis (field vole) ...
prairie 606 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass 608 Wheatgrass-grama-needlegrass 609 Wheatgrass-grama 610 Wheatgrass 611 Blue grama-buffalograss 709 Bluestem-grama 710 Bluestem prairie 802 Missouri prairie PLANT COMMUNITIES : Meadow voles are most ...
dark meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus nigrans)
deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus nubiterre)
Delmarva Peninslula fox squirrel (Sciurus niger cinereus)
Dismal Swamp short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda telmalestes) ...
GGOW and NHOW use microtine voles as the majority of their diet - primarily Meadow Voles. When these rodent populations crash, this exerts stress on the owls.
During daylight hours they generally travel about in under ground passages which may include burrows of moles and meadow voles. At night movement may be on the surface of the ground under leaves, moss, and loose loam.
As opportunistic hunters, they feed on a wide variety of small mammals such as meadow voles and deer mice, but will take advantage of larger prey, frequently following traplines to find food.
The Barred Owl has an extremely varied diet with meadow voles as its main prey followed by shrews and deer mice. Other mammals include rats, squirrels, young rabbits, bats, moles, opossums, mink, and weasels.
Barn owls need large areas of pasture, hayfields, grasslands or wet meadows which have good populations of meadow voles, their favorite food.
It also eats birds, meadow voles, carrion and sometimes larger animals like deer and caribou. Lynx often store leftover kill by covering it with snow. Adult lynx are solitary hunters, although a mother and her young will often hunt together.
It is a skillful hunter and preys on a wide variety of game including meadow voles and other small mammals, muskrats, fish, crayfish, frogs and insects. The males tend to take larger prey items than females, which are smaller.
Large congregations often gather on meadowlands and mown fields to eat meadow voles, grasshoppers and other insects. Large flocks at sea direct fishermen to schools of herring by screaming excitedly and hovering in dense formation above the fish.
Their diet consists of meadow voles and deer mice, small birds, northern pocket gophers, wood rats, red squirrels, chipmunks, muskrats, young yellowbellied marmots, and young rabbits. Juvenile snakes prey mostly on mice and shrews.
RODENTIA: Cricetidae (Mice, Voles, and Lemmings)
Common Name Scientific Name Distribution
Meadow Vole
Microtus pennsylvanicus ...
 See also: Weasel, Deer, Vole, Flying Squirrel, Muskrat
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