I espied this adolescent jumping mouse in the yard. You can tell it's a jumping mouse by its large hind legs and feet. It's sort of built like a kangaroo.
This fellow was not yet an adult and was particularly dozy. I could nearly pick it up! It was also out in the open during the middle of the day -- a bad idea for a mouse with all the predators around here. In fact, there is a long-tailed weasel hanging around the lodge and fish house, right near where I photographed the mouse. The weasel makes its living eating little rodents like this.
The mouse scurried around until it was frightened. It then took enormous hops, at least for a mouse. It probably soared two feet off the ground.
Incidentally, many people despise mice because they get into their houses and wreck things. That's true, but here at camp there is only one species of mouse that deserves this bad rap. That's the white-footed deer mouse. It is the only one that will come into a building. If you need to hate a mouse, this is the one for you.
Our other mice: red-backed voles, meadow voles and the occasional jumping mouse, all live in the outdoors and take no interest in humans at all.
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