Moving the family

This is a native deer mouse. The orange/brown flank on this mouse distinguishes it from its relative, the white-footed deer mouse. Both mice have white undersides and white feet, but the white-footed deer mouse is gray.

I took this photo the morning of May 20. The deer mouse was moving its newborn babies to a new home. I only observed two babies and was lucky to see the mother mouse carrying the first one away behind a rock wall. She soon came back, and I was able to get a few quick photos.

Within this woodland mouse's short lifespan of about one year, it can give birth to three or four litters of two to six young. The young grow to adulthood by their third month. It eats seeds as well as insects. It is preyed upon by the likes of snakes, raccoons, owls, foxes and cats.