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 57 mammals logged in Maryland

1,118 occurrence records

1,016 with iNaturalist photos

Records from 2000–2026.

1,118 total records count every Maryland occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 1,068 records with a full observation date.

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

Most sightings fall in October.

1,068 Maryland occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Maryland records (table)

Month	Records
January	19
February	17
March	53
April	124
May	106
June	127
July	97
August	77
September	105
October	251
November	65
December	27

Monthly northern short-tailed shrew occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Maryland, 2000–2026.

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	23
Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area	9
Rocky Gap State Park	6
Mckee Beshers Wildlife Management Area	5
George Washington Memorial Parkway	5
Patuxent River State Park	4
Calvert Cliffs 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	303
Baltimore County	162
Anne Arundel County	129
Prince George's County	117
Howard County	73
Frederick County	52
Calvert County	28
Harford County	27
Carroll County	24
Charles County	24
Garrett County	19
Queen Anne's County	16
11 other counties	144

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 iNaturalist and 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"