California mammals

Townsend's Vole in California

Microtus townsendii

Native to California SNR Unranked in California

Not listed as nonindigenous in California by USGS NAS; native to its California range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Townsend's Vole in California, by the numbers

Rare in California 200th most recorded of 241 mammals logged in California

16 occurrence records

Records from 2000–2026.

When to look for the Townsend's Vole in California

Most sightings fall in August.

16 California occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence. Based on a small number of dated records; the seasonal pattern may not be representative.

Monthly California records (table)
MonthRecords
January0
February0
March1
April1
May0
June0
July0
August12
September2
October0
November0
December0

Monthly townsend's vole occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in California, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in California, with recorded sightings peaking in August.

Occurrence map

Where Townsend's Vole has been recorded in California

16 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

16 California records mapped

Where it's recorded in California

CountyRecords
Humboldt County 14
Del Norte County 2

The complete county distribution, spread across 2 California counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

California’s combined state files contain 16 Townsend’s Vole records: 0 from iNaturalist and 16 from GBIF. It ranks 200th among 243 mammals in this California record comparison, placing it in the lower third. That’s a ranking of submitted records, not a head count of animals.

The California files don’t contain a complete month-by-month series for this species. That gap limits any claim about seasonal timing, and it doesn’t show that the animal leaves California during part of the year.

The national summary doesn’t provide a California share that can be compared cleanly with this state total. It’s better to treat these records as evidence of documentation effort rather than a measure of the species’ wider range.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

More mammals in California 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