Vermont’s few southern bog lemming records come from the Champlain Valley, where the wetlands around Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge and the marshy edges of Lake Champlain hold the sedge beds and wet meadow cover this rodent depends on. Despite the name, it isn’t limited to true bogs, but it does need thick, damp grass and sedge, and the refuge’s marshes are about as good a match as Vermont offers.
It’s a stocky, short-tailed rodent that cuts hidden runways through grass and sedge rather than moving across open ground, building round nests from the same plants it clips. Sedges, grasses, mosses, and roots make up most of its diet, with a smaller share of insects mixed in.
Vermont’s records are sparse, just 16 so far, and cluster from midsummer into fall. Because this lemming stays hidden beneath thick cover and is easy to miss without trapping, that pattern likely reflects when and where people looked rather than a real seasonal gap.
Full species profile
