This woodland jumping mouse (Napaeozapus insignis) was captured by my camera targeting a ruffed grouse dust bath in pine-hemlock-hardwood upland forest. It’s my first jumping mouse, so it was a small consolation for failure to get the bird actually dust bathing. As you watch the video, notice the mouse’s exceptionally long tail and hind toes. These distinguish it from deermice (Peromyscus species). It sniffs around during the brief clip, probably searching for seeds, fungi, or insects, which comprise the bulk of its diet.

This small rodent inhabits boreal and mixed forests primarily in the northeastern and upper mid-western US, and southeastern Canada. It’s a deep hibernator in winter, which is why we don’t find its tracks in snow. And because it lives in forest, its tracks are not often seen even during the warmer months. It’s cousin, the meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius), lives along marshes, ponds, and streams in open areas, where its tracks sometimes appear in muddy spots. For a look at some beautiful meadow jumping mouse tracks, check out Linda Spielman’s blog post and notice the long hind toe prints. Despite its large hind feet and powerful hind legs, it bounds like a deermouse but can cover much more distance in one leap, as much as 10-12 feet. It does not (as far as I know) hop bipedally, unlike another rodent I’ve been tracking in the Desert Southwest. More on that in the near future.