Eastern Fox Squirrel    Sciurus niger  

NON NATIVE

This squirrel is medium-sized tree squirrel, rusty to reddish gray across back.  It weighs 1.6-2.4 pounds and eats acorns, walnuts, and  other types of seeds

Western Gray squirrel  Sciurus griseus 

NATIVE

Silver gray with white undersides.  Long bushy tail that lives for 7 to 8 years.  Mainly eats seeds, but known to eat berries, fungus, bark, sap, and insects.  Lives in hollow trees or nests.

Muskrat  Ondatra zibethicus

NATIVE

This aquatic rodent lives in marsh environments.  They are excellent swimmers and can stay under water for more than 15 minutes at a time.  Their houses are made of bulrushes, reeds, and packed mud.  There are separate sleeping platforms for each member of the family.  They also build dens in stream banks with the entrance underwater. They eats cattails, bulrush, crayfish, and fish.  Their total body length of about 30 cm.  The muskrat’s tail is flat and scaly up to 20 cm.  It has a large head, small ears, short legs, and webbed feet.

Opossum  Didelphis marsupialis 

NATIVE

This is the only North American marsupial or pouched mammal, It has a pointed stout, grayish fur, a  long hairless rat-like tail.  There may be up to 14 young in a litter.  At bird, an entire litter could fit in a teaspoon!  They remain in their mothers’s pouch about 2 months.  Later they travel on their mother’s back with their tails grasping hers.

Raccoon  Procyon lotor

NATIVE

The raccoon has a black mask over its eyes and a  bushy tail with 4-10 black rings.  Its forepaws resemble slender human hands with 5 toes.  The raccoon is omnivorous and feeds on crayfish in the creek as well as blackberries.   .

Shrews Sorex spp

NATIVE

Shrews are insect eaters.  They are very small and  need to eat frequently because of their  high metabolic rate.  The species most likely in Stivers Lagoon include the Ornate Shrew  (Sorex ornatus) and the Trowbridge Shrew  (Sorex trowbridgei)