Pennsylvania records place the cinereus shrew in everything from large game-land tracts to small wooded pockets at Gettysburg and Valley Forge. Across those landscapes, damp leaf litter and fallen logs matter more than the park label because they provide the concealed ground layer this tiny native mammal uses.
Separate record peaks in March, May, and October may reflect cool, moist ground and the timing of field surveys. They mark occasions when a normally hidden shrew was easier to find, not changes in Pennsylvania’s secure S5 population.
Full species profile
