Long-tailed weasels post the largest record count of any species in this Vermont rank tier, 432 sightings, yet 415 of them come from GBIF rather than iNaturalist, meaning trapping and specimen data, not casual photographs, drive almost everything documented here. NatureServe rates the state population S3, vulnerable, a more cautious read than a record count this large might suggest. The high trapping volume reflects historical fur-industry data collection, not necessarily a thriving population today.
March alone accounts for 96 of the 432 records, more than double any other month, a spike that lines up far more closely with trapping-season timing than with the weasel’s own natural activity, since a dataset this GBIF-heavy is shaped mostly by when people were out checking traps.
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