{"id":5221,"date":"2012-06-25T03:55:58","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T09:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=5221"},"modified":"2026-02-19T06:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T12:33:24","slug":"farmington-utahs-voles-just-my-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/25\/farmington-utahs-voles-just-my-opinion\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmington Utah’s Voles – Just My Opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are squeamish, don’t like to see dead animals or can’t stand the sight of blood you may want to skip reading this post. Or you can push past\u00a0seeing animals that have died of natural causes and read about why I felt it was important\u00a0to express my opinions about this matter.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Recently KSL.com<\/a><\/span>; a Utah news station, had an article about a Vole (a small rodent)\u00a0infestation In Farmington, specifically in the\u00a0neighborhood of Foxboro Community. While I sympathize with the residents about the damage being done to their yards I am disturbed by the advice many of\u00a0the people commenting\u00a0have left\u00a0on the story. The article and the comments can be read here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Two main suggestions came up repeatedly:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Get an outdoor cat, they will kill them<\/li>\n
  2. Use poison to kill the Voles<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To explain that area one must think of wetlands<\/em> that have turned into housing developments and human encroachment on natural areas<\/em>. Think of nearby\u00a0marshes<\/em> and flat grasslands<\/em> where voles and other animals have thrived since before the pioneers settled into the Salt Lake Valley.\u00a0It is prime real estate for voles. It is prime real estate for all of the other creatures too.<\/p>\n

    Some of the folks want to blame UDOT because the\u00a0Legacy Parkway was\u00a0near the Foxboro Community. Those voles were on the land that the Parkway was built on long before they broke ground. The Legacy Parkway isn’t the problem.<\/p>\n

    Some of the folks want UDOT, the City or Davis County to clear the voles off of the public lands near the Foxboro Community and the Legacy Parkway because they believe that will solve the vole infestation. It won’t work.<\/p>\n

    What some of these people fail to realize that there are cycles in nature where populations of animals rise and fall and that those cycles can depend on many factors. We had a super mild 2011\/2012 winter which possibly had an effect on the vole population. Voles breed all year long\u00a0but harsh winters can reduce the number of off spring that survive the frigid temperatures. A mild winter… more surviving voles. We had an early spring in 2012\u00a0where the grasses and other vegetation, aka vole food, greened up early and provided the voles with enough nourishment to have more litters.<\/p>\n

    I’m a bird photographer, I am out in the wilds a lot and I have observed a dramatic increase in the vole population in the locations that I visit to photograph birds in the last year. I’m not upset or disturbed by it because I know that the population will decrease because of that natural cycle. The fall of the high population can be weather related, caused by predators consuming the voles or both. And more.<\/p>\n

    Outdoor Cats:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    First, let’s look at outdoor cats and the problems they can cause to wildlife, people and how living outdoors can cause them to live much shorter lives.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Outdoor cats that are not vaccinated can carry diseases that can be transmitted to wildlife and the people they come in contact with.\u00a0That is a fact<\/em>. Think rabies, feline distemper and feline immunodeficiency.<\/li>\n
    2. Outdoor cats can be hit by cars, poisoned, attacked by dogs, get lost or stolen.<\/li>\n
    3. Outdoor cats that are not spayed or neutered cause an increase in\u00a0feral cat problems.<\/li>\n
    4. Outdoor cats are spreading diseases to our native cats, our\u00a0Mountain Lions and Bobcats.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Estimations have shown that annually outdoor cats in the U.S. \u00a0have been the cause of death for hundreds of millions of birds, some of these birds are on the threatened and endangered lists and a few species are facing extinction if we don’t do something about the outdoor and feral cat problem now.<\/p>\n

      You might think I am anti-cat at this point. I’m not. I have had\u00a0cats in the past, I love to cuddle & play with my friends cats now.<\/p>\n

      However; I did not and would not have an outdoor cat because of the danger to the cats and to wildlife. You can read more about outdoor cats at the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) here<\/a><\/span> and about cats & predation\u00a0here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

      Poison Control:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      Not a good idea at all. Poisons are bad for people, animals, the environment and upset the balance of nature.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Poisons can kill children who don’t know that what they are touching or ingesting is harmful.<\/li>\n
      2. Poisons can kill your pets.<\/li>\n
      3. Some of those poisons stick around for years and have long term effects.<\/li>\n
      4. Poisons might kill the natural predators of voles after the predator ingests them.<\/li>\n
      5. Aren’t we all bombarded by enough chemicals whose long term health\u00a0effects are unknown each and every day?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        What is to say after a poison kills a rodent that your family pet will not pick it up and eat it and then die? What is to stop a predatory bird that is protected under the Migratory Bird Act from eating the poisoned rodent and dying? For people on well water how do you know for certain that those poisons won’t migrate into your drinking water?<\/p>\n

        Poisons are too risky. For you. For me. For our children’s children. For our planet.<\/p>\n

        \"ThisThis is a Vole. This is a Vole after a native predator kills it for nourishment. This is Nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

        When I saw this vole wedged into a tree on Antelope Island State park a while ago I\u00a0 stopped so I could take photos of it. Maybe I knew it would come in handy one day for a blog post of importance. At the time I wasn’t sure whether a Loggerhead Shrike cached\u00a0it or if it was an American Kestrel that did it. Shrikes are well known\u00a0for impaling\u00a0their prey to cache it.<\/p>\n

        BNA<\/a><\/span> (Birds of North America) shows this under American\u00a0Kestrels under food habits:<\/p>\n

        Prey often but not always decapitated; hidden in grass clumps, tree roots, bushes, fence posts, and tree limbs and cavities, etc.<\/em><\/p>\n

        Regardless of whether it was a Shrike or a Kestrel that stuck this dead vole in the tree, it died a natural death and the bird had sustenance. 100% nature.<\/p>\n

        Native predators of voles, also known as\u00a0the Vole Control Patrol:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

        Hawks & Falcons<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \"FemaleFemale American Kestrel perched on a pole eating a vole<\/span><\/p>\n

        One of my most favorite raptors; the American Kestrel, excels at vole control. They are Bantamweight (bird lovers will catch the pun here) vole eating machines and they KO plenty of the little rodents everyday!<\/p>\n

        I support the American Kestrel Partnership<\/a><\/span> which is a project of the Peregrine Fund. In some areas of North America the populations of these small falcons are on the decline. The American Kestrel Partnership hopes to unify the data-generating capacity of citizen scientists with the data-analysis expertise of professional scientists to advance research and conservation of American Kestrels.<\/p>\n

        You may wonder why I brought the American Kestrel Partnership up in this post. If people in the Foxboro Community put up kestrel nest boxes their vole population would decrease significantly and by monitoring the nest boxes they could help as citizen scientists. Nest boxes can be purchased here<\/a><\/span> from the American Kestrel Partnership.<\/p>\n

        Hey Foxboro Community<\/strong>, what are you waiting for? You can get rid of your voles naturally and help our smallest and most colorful falcon in North America.<\/p>\n

        \"GrayGray Ghost (male Northern Harrier) in flight<\/span><\/p>\n

        If American Kestrels are the Bantamweights\u00a0of the Vole Control Patrol the Northern Harriers are the Long Distance Fliers.\u00a0Harriers cruise all day long in search of voles with the aerial agility of stealth airplanes, the voles get no notice before they are captured and dispatched. Harriers nest in the marshes not in nest boxes so they can’t be enticed to book a room in a grassy neighborhood yard but they are great Vole exterminators.<\/p>\n

        \"Rough-leggedRough-legged Hawk in flight with a vole<\/span><\/p>\n

        Rough-legged Hawks hover above their prey then swoop down to capture it, their method of capturing voles reminds me of a military Apache helicopter.<\/p>\n

        They get their prey a large percentage of the time. They are only in the Salt Lake Valley during the winter because their breeding territory is much farther north. They can certainly make a dent in the vole population during their brief time in Utah though.<\/p>\n

        These are three raptors that capture and eat large volumes of voles.<\/p>\n

        Loggerhead Shrike – The Raptor Wannabe<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \"LoggerheadLoggerhead Shrike with a headturn<\/span><\/p>\n

        Loggerhead Shrikes are songbirds but they sure remind me of raptors in their\u00a0behavior, diet\u00a0and the way they capture and kill their prey. Their diet consists of insects, spiders and small mammals like the voles that people in Farmington are annoyed with.<\/p>\n

        I’ve seen Loggerhead Shrikes every month of the year though their numbers do seem to dwindle significantly during the winter. Because insects are not available during the coldest months of the year their winter diet consists of small rodents, mostly voles.<\/p>\n

        Loggerhead Shrikes build their own nests in sagebrush and other shrubs. Having them near your property could reduce the number of voles. They might be lightweights but they have big appetites.<\/p>\n

        Owls<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \"GreatGreat Horned Owl warming in the Montana sun<\/span><\/p>\n

        Several owls species native to Utah hunt and eat voles, like this Great Horned Owl, aka Tiger of the Sky, pictured above. Great Horned\u00a0Owls do nest in boxes, trees and old buildings and if nest boxes are provided they will hunt down and eat those pesky voles.<\/p>\n

        Other owls in the Salt Lake Valley area that eat voles:<\/strong><\/p>\n