Alaska deer mouse records are thin next to the western Lower 48, but the mapped sightings that do exist reach into some of the state’s most different terrain: Denali National Park and Preserve’s boreal forest and tundra edge, Tongass National Forest’s coastal rainforest, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, near the far northern edge of the species’ range.
Wherever it turns up, a deer mouse wants the same basics: a hidden nest in a hollow log, rock crevice, or old burrow within a short dash of food. In Alaska that might mean a gap in beetle-killed spruce near Denali, a mossy nook in Tongass old growth, or tundra tussocks close to the Arctic coast. It forages mostly after dark on seeds, insects, and berries, and caches food to get through lean stretches.
Reports cluster from May through July and stay sparse the rest of the year, which reflects how few people are out looking for a small nocturnal mouse across such a big, remote state, not true absence.
Full species profile
