Smoky shrews carry a NatureServe S5 secure rank in New York, and the record leans almost entirely on GBIF specimen data (859 of 860 records), meaning trapping surveys, not casual photographs, built nearly the entire dataset for this tiny, insect-eating forest specialist despite the “rare” bucket label here reflecting a percentile ranking, not real scarcity.
July alone accounts for 183 of the 860 records, more than a fifth of the year’s total, with June through October together carrying the majority of sightings, a pattern that likely tracks peak summer trapping-survey activity as much as the shrew’s own behavior, since it stays active year-round without hibernating.
Full species profile
