Ohio mammals

Masked Shrew in Ohio

Sorex cinereus

Native to Ohio S5 Secure in Ohio

Not listed as nonindigenous in Ohio by USGS NAS; native to its Ohio range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Sorex cinereus, Harwich, Chatham, Ontario, Canada 1Sorex cinereus, Harwich, Chatham, Ontario, Canada 2Sorex cinereus, Harwich, Chatham, Ontario, Canada 3Sorex cinereus, Harwich, Chatham, Ontario, Canada 4Sorex cinereus, Billings National Historical Park, Woodstock, Vermont, USA 1Masked Shrew (Sorex cinereus)
Photo: rpoort · CC BY 4.0Sorex cinereus, Harwich, Chatham, Ontario, Canada 1Photo: rpoort · CC BY 4.0Sorex cinereus, Harwich, Chatham, Ontario, Canada 2Photo: rpoort · CC BY 4.0Sorex cinereus, Harwich, Chatham, Ontario, Canada 3Photo: rpoort · CC BY 4.0Sorex cinereus, Harwich, Chatham, Ontario, Canada 4Photo: er-birds · CC BY 4.0Sorex cinereus, Billings National Historical Park, Woodstock, Vermont, USA 1Photo: Sean Frey · CC BY 4.0Masked Shrew (Sorex cinereus)

Masked Shrew in Ohio, by the numbers

Common in Ohio 20th most recorded of 75 mammals logged in Ohio

638 occurrence records
139 with iNaturalist photos

Records from 2000–2026.

638 total records count every Ohio occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 622 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Masked Shrew in Ohio

Most sightings fall in August to October.

622 Ohio occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Ohio records (table)
MonthRecords
January7
February17
March22
April71
May17
June48
July43
August107
September114
October99
November52
December25

Monthly masked shrew occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Ohio, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Ohio, with recorded sightings peaking in August–October, with a smaller rise in April.

Occurrence map

Where Masked Shrew has been recorded in Ohio

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Ohio records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Cuyahoga Valley National Park 8
Lake Erie marshes 1
Quail Hollow State Park 1
Stages Pond Dedicated Nature Preserve 1
Punderson State Park 1
Fowler Woods Dedicated Nature Preserve 1
Wayne National Forest 1

Protected places with the most masked shrew sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Ohio

CountyRecords
Summit County 114
Delaware County 82
Ashtabula County 52
Trumbull County 36
Cuyahoga County 35
Lake Erie County 29
Franklin County 29
Wyandot County 23
Portage County 22
Paulding County 20
Seneca County 19
Lake County 18
35 other counties 159

The complete county distribution, spread across 47 Ohio counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Cinereus shrew reports build unevenly across Ohio’s calendar. August through October contribute 317 of the 622 records, with September narrowly highest at 113; January is lowest at seven. That late-summer and early-autumn cluster is the clearest feature of the record set, while the remaining reports confirm that observations are not confined to one season.

Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area, Big Island Wildlife Area, and The Wilds are the Ohio settings named in the file, but none comes with a supporting place count. NatureServe ranks the species S5, secure, statewide. That conservation assessment and the monthly report pattern answer different questions: neither turns the 622 records into a census or establishes which named setting holds the most shrews.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Sorex cinereus, Harwich, Chatham, Ontario, Canada 1
Full species profile Masked Shrew Sorex cinereus Size 6.9 cm2.7 in Weight 5 g0.2 oz Lifespan Up to 2.5 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Ohio in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"