Bats Birds Beavers Skunks Squirrels Raccoons Moles
Pocket Gophers Muskrats Opossums Woodchucks Chipmunks Rabbits Coyotes


(back to top) 		BATS
Overall brown. Dark, membranous naked wings and tail. Lighter brown belly. Dark oval naked ears with a short round tragus. Bright black eyes. Pointed snout. This bat can live 15-20 years. They find their homes in walls and attics of homes, churches, barns and other buildings year-round, maternity colonies also in hollow trees.
Bats are nocturnal and are active only on warm dry nights. They come out approximately 30 minutes after sunset, feed until they are full, roost the rest of the night, then return to daytime roost before sunrise.
  MN has 7 different species of bats. They are the Little Brown Bat, Eastern Pipistrelle, Northern Myotis, Big Brown Bat, Red Bat, Silver-haired Bat, and Hoary Bat.
  The most common bat to enter buildings is the Big Brown Bat and Little Brown Bat.


(back to top) 		BIRDS Starling - House Sparrow - Feral Pigeon

STARLING – Sturnus Vulgaris
Nesting – The Starling is a nesting bird.  Their nests are in enclosed areas with at least a 1-1/2 inch opening.  Look for their nests in old trees, church steeples and other holes and orifices.  Due to their bullying nature they will take any suitable site, evicting any previous owner.  They sometimes watch other birds build a complete nest before forcing them to leave.

Damage – Starlings rank just behind pigeons and sparrows as an urban bird pest.  Starlings can be a nuisance in both urban and rural areas due to their nesting, eating and living habits.  When the bird is in its flocking phase, thousands of starlings often overwhelm buildings and trees.  Large scale buildup of feces from these flocks can lead to structural damage.  The uric acid in the feces can corrode stone, metal and masonry.  Gutters and drainage pipes clogged with starling nests often backup, causing extensive water damage.  The bacteria, fungal agents and parasites in the feces also pose a health risk.

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HOUSE SPARROW – Passer Domesticus
Nesting – They build large nests relative to size which function as the center of all activity.  They prefer small enclosed places such as house shutters, drainage piping, building rafters and corrugated metal siding.  They will build a spherical nest in a tree or another exposed place if they have no other options.  The building material will be sticks, with an inside lining of grass, string, fabrics or straw.  The nest will often hold several families.
 

Damage – House Sparrows are often a nuisance in urban areas like manufacturing and food processing plants.  Gutters and drainage pipes clogged with sparrow nests can backup and cause extensive water damage and fires have been attributed to electrical shorts from machinery housing sparrow nests.  Lastly, feces buildup can lead to structural damage from the uric acid in droppings plus the bacteria, fungal agents and parasites in the feces also pose a health risk.


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FERAL PIGEON – Columba livia
Nesting – Nest building is very simple and often consists of a few stiff twigs.  The male will pick the site.  They prefer small flat areas away from the ground.  Look for nests along building ledges, bridge supports, air conditioning units, window sills and the like.  In crowded flocks, pigeons will even forgo nest building and lay eggs directly on a protected ledge.
 

Damage – Feral pigeons are responsible for untold millions of dollars of damage each year in urban areas.  The uric acid in their feces is highly corrosive.  Also, debris from roosting flocks can build up, backing up gutters and drains thus causing damage to roofs and other structures.  Extensive damage to air conditioning units and other roof top machinery is commonplace.  There are also other economic costs that can be associated from pigeons taking up residence such as slip and fall liability and projection of an unclean, dirty company image.  Besides physical damage the bacteria, fungal agents and ectoparasites found in pigeon droppings sometimes represents a health risk.  Pigeons produce a ¼ lb of droppings per day each.


(back to top) 		BEAVERS
Reddish brown fur. Body often darker than their head. Large, flat, naked black tail, covered with scales. Small round ears. Large, exposed orange incisors. Tiny eyes. Beavers can live 10-15 years. They live in dens, called a lodge, which are hollow inside with holes on top for ventilation. Beavers that live on rivers often dig burrows in riverbanks rather than constructing dens.
Signs of a beaver are a dam and lodge made from large woody branches that indicate current or former activity since structures remain well after the beaver has moved on. They build dams to back up large volumes of water, creating a pond. They cut trees at night by gnawing trunks.


(back to top) 		SKUNKS
Black with 2 broad white stripes joined at their head, separated along back or upper sides and blended into sides of the tail. Thin white stripe down center of head between the ears and eyes. Large, bushy black tail with a white fringe and tip. Males are larger than females. Skunks can live 2-5 years. They often burrow in hollow logs or tree crevices, under a deck, porch, firewood or rock pile in the summer.
Signs of a skunk is their pungent odor which is more obvious when the skunk has sprayed. They are able to spray 5-6 times up to 15 feet with surprising accuracy. This substance can cause temporary blindness and intense pain if it enters the eyes. Holding the animal by its tail off the ground will not prevent it from spraying.


(back to top) 		SQUIRRELS (Flying - Red - Gray)
Overall gray or light brown fur with a white chest and belly. Large, bushy gray tail with silver-tipped hairs. Black morph is overall black with reddish brown shine. Tail may also be reddish brown. Squirrels can live 2-5 years. They leaf nest in the summer, which is hollow with a single entrance hole and lined with soft plant material. The nest is usually in a tree cavity or old woodpecker hole in the winter. Males and females live in separate nests in the summer, but they live together in the winter.
Signs of a squirrel are acorns and other large nuts split in half with the nutmeat missing, gnaw marks on tree branches stripped of bark, trees that lack new growth branches with green leaves in early summer, ragged holes in snow with scattered dirt and debris. They are the most commonly seen mammal in Minnesota.


(back to top) 		RACCOONS
Overall gray to brown, sometimes nearly black to silver. Distinctive black band across face (mask), eyes and down to the chin. White snout. Bushy, black-tipped brown tail with 4-6 evenly spaced dark bands or rings. Raccoons can live 6-10 years. They usually hollow in trees or underground den and prairie areas.
Signs of a raccoon are usually a pile of half-digested berries deposited on a log, rock, under a bird feeder or on top of a garbage can. They are able to climb trees very quickly and can come down headfirst or tail end first. Its nails can grip bark no matter which way it climbs because it can rotate its hind feet nearly 180 degrees so that the hind toes always point up the tree.


(back to top) 		MOLES
Short silky fur, dark brown to gray with a silver sheen. Long pointed snout. Very large, naked front feet, more wide than long and resembling human hands with palms turned outward. Very short, nearly naked tail. Pinpoint eyes, frequently hidden by fur. Males are slightly larger than females. Moles can live 1-2 years. They burrow in tunnels usually 4-20 inches below ground in summer, deeper tunnels below the frost line during the winter. The nest is in a chamber connected to a tunnel, with separate chambers for giving birth and raising young.
Signs of a mole are ridges of soil from tunnel construction just below the surface of the ground, sometimes small piles of soil on the ground (molehills) from digging deeper permanent tunnels. They use their very sensitive, flexible snout to find food by smelling and sensing vibrations with its whiskers. The nap of its short fur can lie forward or backward, making it easier to travel in either direction in tight tunnels. A narrow pelvis allows it to somersault often and reverse its heading.



(back to top) 		POCKET GOPHERS
Pocket gophers are light brown to gray on their upper body. They have short legs, pink feet and extremely long front claws. They have small round ears, tiny eyes and a short naked tail. Gophers can live 2-5 years. They have a network of tunnels, usually with 2 levels, some about 6 inches deep, used for gathering food. They have deep tunnels down to 6 feet used for nesting and raising young.
Signs of a gopher are mounds of excess dirt as wide as 2 feet resulting from tunneling and ridges of dirt pushed up from tunneling. The opening to a tunnel system is rarely seen. They live entirely underground and feed on roots and bulbs of different plant species, depending upon the season availability. They store some food in underground chambers. They have been known to pull entire plants underground by the roots.


(back to top) 		MUSKRATS
Muskrats are a glossy dark brown. They are lighter on their sides and their belly. They have a long naked tail covered with scales and slightly vertically flattened (taller than it is wide). Muskrats have small round ears and tiny eyes. Muskrats can live 3-10 years. They live in a small den called a lodge which is made of cattail leaves and other soft green plant material. The lodges usually have 1-2 underwater entrances and often has 1 chamber. The larger dens may have 2 chambers with separate occupants.
Signs of a muskrat are well-worn trails through vegetation along a lakeshore near a muskrat lodge. There is usually a feeding platform made of floating plant material which is strewn with partially eaten cattails and other plants. There will be a lodge made of mud and cut vegetation but occasionally many lodges will dot the surface of a shallow lake.


(back to top) 		OPOSSUMS
Opossums are gray to brown and sometimes nearly black. They have a white head, throat and belly. They have a long narrow snout and a wide mouth with oval, naked black ears. Opossums are long, scaly, semi-prehensile, with a naked pinkish tail. They have short legs and feet which each have 5 toes. Their nose and toes are pink. Opossums can live 3-5 years. They live in a leaf nest in an underground den or hollow log.
Signs of an opossum are overturned garbage cans, scat on the ground, under sunflower seed and Nyger Thistle feeders. They frequently feed on dead animals along roads and are often hit by cars. They are not fast movers and will hiss if threatened. They will show their short pointy teeth. When that doesn't work, they often roll over and feign death with their eyes closed, mouth open and tongue hanging out. Opossums do not hibernate but they sleep in dens for weeks during the coldest part of winter.


(back to top) 		WOODCHUCKS
Woodchucks are various shades of red to brown or gray to black. Their hair is tipped with gray, yellow or black, giving it a salt and pepper appearance. They have a wide body with very short legs. Woodchucks have small rounds ears, dark eyes, dark brown or black feet and a large bushy dark tail. Males are slightly larger than females. Woodchucks can live 2-4 years. They live in a den, often underneath a building or steps. The den is usually up to 30 feet long and down to 5 feet deep. The entrance is 8-12 inches wide, often with large dirt piles outside and they almost always have 1-2 additional escape entrances, which don't have dirt piles.
Signs of a woodchuck are wide holes underneath buildings and in hillsides. You may also see leaves and flowers that have been chewed off neatly. Unlike the common name suggests, the Woodchuck does not eat wood, but feed instead on green vegetation such as grass and especially likes dandelions. They will climb small trees in the spring to eat the green buds.


(back to top) 		CHIPMUNKS
Chipmunks are overall reddish brown with a single white strip bordered by 2 dark strips on each side running from nose to rump. Their strips are less prominent on their face. Their chin, chest and belly are pale white to gray with a reddish brown rump. Their tails are reddish brown and half the length of their body. Chipmunks can live 2-4 years. They burrow with several round entrance holes, each 2 inches wide with no trace of excavated dirt. They have several chambers for sleeping, storing food and waste. They may nest in a tree cavity. Males and females construct and maintain separate burrows.
Signs of a chipmunk are piles of cracked seeds and acorns and other food on a log or large rock. They will eat just about anything from plants to animals. They are comfortable climbing trees to gather seeds, buds and flowers for food. Chipmunks can transport large amounts of food, usually seeds, in their cheek pouches. They store large quantities of seeds, nuts and dried berries in an underground cavity connected to its living chambers. They will eat from its cache when it cannot get outside due to weather and in the winter.


(back to top) 		RABBITS
Rabbits are overall dark brown during summer with black tipped hair, giving it a dark grizzled appearance. They have a white spot on their forehead right between the eyes. Their belly is light gray to white and they have long pointed ears, black on the edges. They have dark brown eyes and their tail is usually brown above, gray or white below. Their feet are often yellowish. Rabbits can live 1-3 years. They have a shallow nest in unmowed grassy areas along fences or in open fields.
Signs of a rabbit are well worn trails during summer. In the winter the deep snow on trails are packed down from frequent use. They often head for thick vegetation for cover. They use the wallows of grouse to take dust baths during the summer.


(back to top) 		COYOTES
Coyotes have tan fur with black and orange highlights. They have large pointed reddish orange ears with white interior. Their snout is long and narrow with a white upper lip. They have long legs and a bushy black-tipped tail. Coyotes can live 5-10 years.
 

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