New Hampshire has 68 documented star-nosed mole records, drawn from iNaturalist and GBIF. That number reflects where people have found this mole’s wet-ground burrows, not how many are tunneling through the state.
Built for New Hampshire’s wettest ground
The star-nosed mole is an unusually strong swimmer for a mole, hunting insects, worms, and small aquatic prey both above and below the surface, with tunnels that often open straight into water. That habit fits the Lakes Region’s boggy shorelines and slow-moving inlets and the tidal marsh edges around Great Bay and the short Atlantic seacoast far better than the well-drained, rocky ground higher in the White Mountains. Reports concentrate in the state’s low, wet lowlands for a real ecological reason, not just because people search there more.
A summer spike that likely tracks the observers
New Hampshire’s reports for this mole peak sharply in July, but the species itself stays active through every season, including under snow and ice in winter, when it keeps hunting in flooded tunnels and open water. The summer surge more likely reflects when people are out canoeing, hiking wetland trails, and running wildlife surveys near the state’s lakes and marshes, not a mole that goes quiet the rest of the year.
Status in New Hampshire
NatureServe ranks the star-nosed mole S5, secure, and it’s native to New Hampshire. It stays tied to the wettest corners of the state, from Great Bay’s marsh edges to the Lakes Region’s boggy shorelines.
