Meadow voles account for 608 Maine records, a solid but not exceptional showing in this atlas, most of them GBIF specimen and occurrence entries rather than casual sightings. That split reflects how this small, grass-dwelling rodent gets documented: through trapping surveys and museum records far more often than a chance trailside glimpse.
Wet meadows and bog edges, not deep woods
Meadow voles need dense, damp grass and sedge cover, the kind found in lakeside meadows and bog margins rather than closed conifer canopy. That’s likely why records concentrate around Acadia’s coastal meadows and Baxter’s boggy clearings rather than the deep, unbroken spruce-fir interior of the North Woods, where the ground layer stays too shaded and dry for the tunnels and trails through grass this vole depends on.
Active all winter, just out of sight
Records climb through summer and peak sharply in September, then drop off but never fully disappear through the coldest months. Meadow voles don’t hibernate. They keep moving all winter through tunnels under the snowpack, feeding on grass and bark hidden from view, so the thin trickle of records that continues into January and February likely reflects real activity that’s simply harder to see, not an animal that’s gone quiet for the winter.
Status in Maine
NatureServe ranks the meadow vole S5 in Maine, secure, and it’s native throughout the state. As one of the most important prey species for hawks, owls, and weasels, a vole that stays active through a Maine winter, even if only its tunnels show it, matters far beyond its own small size.
