Virginia sits near the southern edge of this shrew’s Appalachian reach, and its Virginia reports split between two very different settings: the high forest floor of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in the mountains, and the damp lowland cover along Potomac River parkland and Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge in the northeast. Both places share what this shrew actually needs, damp soil and thick litter, even though one sits at elevation and the other close to sea level.
This is one of the smallest mammals in the state, barely bigger than a thumb, and it survives on an almost nonstop hunt for beetles, ants, spiders, and other small invertebrates because its fast metabolism leaves it little fat to fall back on. It threads through moss, rotting logs, and loose soil rather than digging its own burrows, which is exactly why most people who share ground with this shrew never see one.
Reports here run year-round with a rise from May through July and again in September, timing that lines up more with when small-mammal surveys happen than with any change in the shrew’s own habits. With 74 records logged statewide, most sightings are trapping records rather than casual encounters, so a gap on the county map usually means fewer surveys, not fewer shrews.
Full species profile
