Dusky shrew - a relatively common shrew I found in Kelowna, BC.

Dusky shrew: The long, bicoloured tail helps with identification.

Last year, while visiting Edmonton, I found a masked shrew (blog here).  Not to be outdone, I found a dusky shrew in Kelowna at a site I commonly visit, Munson Pond.

All shrews are insectivores and have an insane metabolism, where they have to eat something like half their body weight each day to stay alive.  They have short lifespans, have several litters a year, and are active throughout the year.  In winter, they live in the subnivian zone, which is the area between the snowpack and the ground.  If insects are not available, they eat seeds, lichen, and fungi, and are known to have food stores (or larders) that they can access.  Dusky shrews are known to eat conifer seeds.

The dusky shrew is relatively common.  It lives near water (I found this one 20 meters from the pond), and can be identified by the dark fur dorsally and the light fur ventrally.  The tail is also bicoloured, with the upper surface dark and the lower surface grey.  It belongs to the long-tailed shrews.

I have found numerous shrews over the years, but never one that was alive.  Their short lifespan and high metabolism put them at risk of dying - dead ones are the only ones I have come across.  

I didn't have my macro camera with me and so I used my iPhone to capture images.  They turned out pretty good, although my DLSR and marco lens would have given me more detail.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com