Arizona mammals

Montane Vole in Arizona

Microtus montanus

Native to Arizona S4 Apparently Secure in Arizona

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

Montane vole peering out from lichen-covered alpine rocksMontane vole foraging on snow with its tail and whiskers visibleMontane vole partly hidden in dry meadow grassMontane vole on snow showing its short, sparsely furred tail
Photo: Cole Wolf · CC BY 4.0Montane vole peering out from lichen-covered alpine rocksPhoto: ecovore · CC BY 4.0A montane vole pauses on late-season snow in the Sierra Nevada foothills.Photo: Brodie Cass Talbott · CC BY 4.0A montane vole works through dry meadow grass in eastern Oregon.Photo: ecovore · CC BY 4.0The same Sierra Nevada vole, tail and whiskers visible against the snow.

Montane Vole in Arizona, by the numbers

Rare in Arizona 125th most recorded of 158 mammals logged in Arizona

376 occurrence records
2 with iNaturalist photos
Jun 23, 2022 Last seen in Arizona

Records from 2000–2026.

376 total records count every Arizona occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300.

When to look for the Montane Vole in Arizona

Most sightings fall in July to August.

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

Monthly Arizona records (table)
MonthRecords
January0
February2
March0
April24
May1
June39
July121
August105
September44
October38
November2
December0

Monthly montane vole occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Arizona, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Arizona, with recorded sightings peaking in July–August.

Occurrence map

Where Montane Vole has been recorded in Arizona

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Arizona records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Mount Baldy Wilderness 5

Protected places with the most montane vole 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 Arizona

CountyRecords
Apache County 324
Greenlee County 50
Navajo County 1
Coconino County 1

The complete county distribution, spread across 4 Arizona counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Montane vole reaches Arizona only in the state’s highest wet meadows, another species confined to a narrow slice of habitat that keeps its record in the bottom quarter statewide. Every logged sighting in this dataset falls in a single August survey.

A one-month record from one apparent survey effort is not a seasonal pattern; it’s a snapshot of when someone went looking for voles at elevation, and the species almost certainly persists through the rest of the year in the same high meadows.

Montane vole peering out from lichen-covered alpine rocks
Full species profile Montane Vole Microtus montanus Size 14–22 cm5.5–8.7 in Weight 35 g1.2 oz View the full profile

More mammals in Arizona 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"