Maryland mammals

Northern Short-tailed Shrew in Maryland

Blarina brevicauda

Native to Maryland S5 Secure in Maryland

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

IUCN Red List status

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Photo: Will Kuhn · CC BY 4.0Northern Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda)Photo: Gilles Gonthier from Canada · CC BY 2.0Blarina brevicaudaPhoto: Glynn Morris · CC BY 4.0Live northern short-tailed shrew in green grass

Photo: Will Kuhn · CC BY 4.0Northern Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda)Photo: Gilles Gonthier from Canada · CC BY 2.0Blarina brevicaudaPhoto: Glynn Morris · CC BY 4.0Live northern short-tailed shrew in green grass

Northern Short-tailed Shrew in Maryland, by the numbers

Common in Maryland 11th most recorded of 100 mammals logged in Maryland

1,003 occurrence records

1,003 total records count every Maryland occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 996 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Northern Short-tailed Shrew in Maryland

Most sightings fall in October.

996 Maryland occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Maryland records (table)

Month	Records
January	32
February	34
March	56
April	105
May	94
June	107
July	85
August	75
September	87
October	223
November	57
December	41

Monthly northern short-tailed shrew occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Maryland.

Seasonality

Year-round in Maryland, with recorded sightings peaking in October.

Occurrence map

Where Northern Short-tailed Shrew has been recorded in Maryland

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Maryland records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monument	iNaturalist records
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park	19
Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area	8
Mckee Beshers Wildlife Management Area	5
George Washington Memorial Parkway	5
Patuxent River State Park	4
Calvert Cliffs State Park	4
Rocky Gap State Park	4
Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area	3

Protected places with the most northern short-tailed shrew 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 Maryland

County	Records
Montgomery County	251
Prince George's County	148
Baltimore County	126
Anne Arundel County	120
Frederick County	84
Howard County	59
Dorchester County	36
Harford County	23
Charles County	21
Garrett County	17
Calvert County	14
Allegany County	13
11 other counties	91

The complete county distribution, spread across 23 Maryland counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Many Maryland reports have been submitted for this species. Places with suitable-looking land include Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Assateague Island National Seashore, but report volume reflects where people looked and doesn’t measure population size.

Year-round resident; activity peaks vary by elevation and habitat.

Occurrence data from GBIF.

Full species profile Northern Short-tailed Shrew Blarina brevicauda Size 11.1 cm4.4 in Weight 21 g0.7 oz Lifespan Up to 2.2 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Maryland 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"