daveh
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Post by daveh on Jul 29, 2012 19:19:35 GMT -5
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col
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Post by col on Jul 29, 2012 23:30:01 GMT -5
Dave that's a nice series.
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 30, 2012 8:09:33 GMT -5
It is cute !!!
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Jul 30, 2012 8:21:11 GMT -5
Poor little guys those field mice. They spend their lives hustling and bustling and rushing about frantically looking for a kernel of grain. They finally find one and sit down to enjoy a hearty meal and !ZAP! A falcon flaps away with a big smile on his face and a mouse tail dangling from his beak. Mickey
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Jul 30, 2012 13:00:10 GMT -5
Thanks. Just looking at them - the last one is out of focus. This little mouse has been plying its trade for ages. I'm a bit surprised none of the neighbourhood cats seem to have noticed it. By the way our field mouse is not the same as what is called that in the US which is a vole.
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Post by pompiere on Jul 30, 2012 21:13:34 GMT -5
We have both voles and field mice. The vole is bigger, but the tail is shorter, in proportion to its body. The cats say they taste the same.
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Jul 31, 2012 16:03:39 GMT -5
Pompiere, perhaps what I have read on the internet is wrong. What it says is the "field mouse" in North America is a small vole, such as the Meadow Vole. There are it seems also several other types of vole out there, but not the same family as our field mouse - Muridae, genus Apodemus.
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Post by pompiere on Aug 3, 2012 19:26:27 GMT -5
I'm not a bioligist, I was just referring to the common names, which can be different for people from different regions. The mice such as in your photos seem to be found around barns and old houses, whereas the voles seem to live out in the fields.
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Post by nikonbob on Aug 4, 2012 6:29:55 GMT -5
Dave
Those are cute little boogers aren't they. I am with Ron, in that your photos remind me of the field/deer mice we have over here. At least that is what I have always called them. Same big beady eyes, large ears and similar body size and tail. Looked up Vole and they appear to have smaller ears and shorter tail but I can see where a field mouse could be mistaken for a vole or vise versa. I remember the confusion over what certain animals were called when discussing moose with my German cousin's husband. Apparently moose are called elk in Europe. We did get that straightened out avoiding WW III.
Bob
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Aug 4, 2012 7:38:53 GMT -5
Ron, Bob, It was only when I started to look up the mouse that I found the difference in naming. I was aware, as a result of what is called a robin, that I had to make sure of the naming. Wiki certainly says that the field mouse in North America is a vole, the meadow vole. I never quite trust Wiki, as an entry can be written by anyone, knowledgeable or not. I did look up further and this entry www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex594 from the Alberta Agricultural and Rural Development also says the same. The only true mouse would appear to be the house mouse, which arrived from Asia. The deer mouse is also from the same family as the voles. In Britain we have several types of mice, rats, voles and similar such animals. One name which is used for several different rodents is water rat. What I knew as a water rat form when I was young is actually a vole, the European Water Vole. We also have the dormouse which is classically shown clinging to an ear of wheat. The dormouse - also a different family to the mouse - is reckoned to be the cutest of all. It has struggled with the change in methods of farming. Another utility name is fish eagle, used to cover any of several different bird types, including the osprey. The elk and the moose are a different kettle of fish: the same animal, but with different names. Dave.
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Post by nikonbob on Aug 4, 2012 7:58:33 GMT -5
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Aug 4, 2012 8:35:28 GMT -5
"The elk and the moose are a different kettle of fish: the same animal, but with different names."
Moose have fat upper lips and a dewlap. They have large flat areas on their antlers.
Elk are often called wapiti in the New World. Their antlers are more like thin branches.
Neither of them can sing in tune.
Most mice or voles do not have noticeable antlers.
Mickey
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Post by nikonbob on Aug 4, 2012 8:51:38 GMT -5
Mickey, Mickey, Mickey
You clearly have not observed the North Western Ontario deer mouse during the rut. The woods here ring with the clash of their sizable head gear to the point where they interrupt your sleep. They display none of the more civilized courting habits of their southern brethren such a nice evening out for dinner and a movie. They also sing worse than an old Tom cat on a fence. We would be happy to arrange a shipment to you southerners.
Bob
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Post by Peltigera on Aug 4, 2012 10:13:15 GMT -5
"The elk and the moose are a different kettle of fish: the same animal, but with different names."Moose have fat upper lips and a dewlap. They have large flat areas on their antlers. Elk are often called wapiti in the New World. Their antlers are more like thin branches. Neither of them can sing in tune. Most mice or voles do not have noticeable antlers. Mickey European elk and American moose are the same. American elk/Wapiti and European Red Deer are the same. Which is why biologists prefer the Latin binomial names.
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Aug 4, 2012 11:17:53 GMT -5
The Moose in Europe are really Eurasian rather than just European. I presume the reason why they are the same as the Elk of North America is that when the seas are frozen between Alaska and Russia they are free to cross the border - as long as they have the right visa in their passport and head off on the correct bering. Many of them, of course, do travel with Antler luggage. I rest my case.
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