Vermont’s occurrence databases hold 95 records for the star-nosed mole, every one of them from GBIF specimen and survey data rather than a public photo. That’s consistent with an animal that spends nearly all its time underground or underwater, out of easy view.
Hunting underwater in Vermont’s wet ground
The fleshy rays ringing this mole’s nose let it identify prey by touch alone, fast enough to hunt through saturated soil and even underwater. That habit ties it to wet ground rather than the drier upland soils Vermont’s other moles favor: the bogs and glacial lake margins of the Northeast Kingdom, streamside pockets in the Green Mountains, and the Connecticut River watershed wetlands within Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge all fit the bill.
Documented, never photographed
Every Vermont record for this mole comes from a specimen or survey, not a snapshot, which tracks with how little of its life plays out where a camera could catch it. Recorded sightings pick up from May through September and peak in August, the stretch when surveys and trapping work most often catch the mole active near the surface of its wet habitat.
Status in Vermont
NatureServe ranks the star-nosed mole S5, secure, and it’s native to Vermont. Its future here rests on keeping the state’s wetlands, bogs, and streamside cover intact and connected.
