Michigan mammals

Western Meadow Vole in Michigan

Microtus drummondii

Native to Michigan SNR Unranked in Michigan

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

IUCN Red List status

NE – Not Evaluated

Not yet assessed against IUCN Red List criteria.

Western meadow vole Talkeetna alaskaWestern Meadow Vole (Microtus drummondii)Western Meadow Vole (Microtus drummondii)Western Meadow Vole (Microtus drummondii)Western Meadow Vole (Microtus drummondii)
Photo: Key towel · CC BY-SA 4.0Western meadow vole Talkeetna alaskaPhoto: aeshnidae28 · CC BY 4.0Western Meadow Vole (Microtus drummondii)Photo: Jared Lincenberg · CC BY 4.0Western Meadow Vole (Microtus drummondii)Photo: Jared Lincenberg · CC BY 4.0Western Meadow Vole (Microtus drummondii)Photo: Daughter Dad · CC BY 4.0Western Meadow Vole (Microtus drummondii)

Western Meadow Vole in Michigan, by the numbers

Occasional in Michigan 50th most recorded of 75 mammals logged in Michigan

29 occurrence records
1 with iNaturalist photos
Dec 1, 2022 Last seen in Michigan

Records from 2000–2026.

When to look for the Western Meadow Vole in Michigan

Most sightings fall in August.

29 Michigan 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 Michigan records (table)
MonthRecords
January0
February0
March0
April0
May0
June2
July3
August15
September8
October0
November0
December1

Monthly western meadow vole occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Michigan, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

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

Occurrence map

Where Western Meadow Vole has been recorded in Michigan

29 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

29 Michigan records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Ottawa National Forest 28

Protected places with the most western meadow vole sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Michigan

CountyRecords
Gogebic County 28
Emmet County 1

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

Western meadow vole records in Michigan are thin, and recent activity is stale, with the most recent confirmed sighting dating to December 2022. Seney, Shiawassee, and Detroit River national wildlife refuges are the named reference sites, though the handful of actual records concentrate almost entirely in August and September.

NatureServe has not yet assigned this species a subnational rank in Michigan, listing it SNR, Unranked, which reflects how recently some Microtus populations here have been split out taxonomically rather than any assessment of scarcity. The tight two-month reporting window says more about when trapping surveys ran than about the vole’s true activity season.

Western meadow vole Talkeetna alaska
Full species profile Western Meadow Vole Microtus drummondii Size 13–20 cm5.1–7.9 in Weight 39 g1.4 oz Lifespan Up to 2.9 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Michigan 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
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"