New York’s pygmy shrew records lean north, exactly as they should. Essex County, in the Adirondack high country, leads the tally, with St. Lawrence County along the northern lowlands close behind. This is one of the smallest mammals on the continent, a shrew that weighs less than a nickel, and New York sits near the southern edge of its range. Cool, damp northern forest is where it belongs.
The Adirondack cluster reflects both good habitat and good coverage. Researchers and mammal trappers have worked the park for decades, and a shrew this size almost never gets recorded except in a survey trap or an owl pellet. Tompkins County’s strong showing has a similar story: Ithaca’s naturalists are unusually thorough.
Most reports land in July, with a second flush in September. That’s the season when shrews are most active above ground and when small-mammal surveys run, not a sign the animals vanish in winter; they stay busy under the snow all year. NatureServe ranks the species apparently secure in New York, and the honest reading of the record is that it’s probably undercounted almost everywhere, turning up only where someone set out to look for it.
Full species profile
