Hairytailed Mole Parascalops breweri

I was walking through the old goat pen mid-morning yesterday, and right at my feet I spied this little fella, on the surface, rapidly scouting the ground.
Suddenly it began to squeak, high pitched, eek-ee-ee! and dig furiously.
A large earthworm appeared out of the ground ahead of the burrowing mole, intent on escape.
I fed the worm to the mole. The mole must have no vision, because it took several attempts of relocating the worm in front of it for the mole to grab ahold of the worm, first at the front tip, then quickly to the heart girdle, munch munch, eek-ee-ee!
I had to show the Willow. She quickly became enamored with the charming little thing, and took several photos including these.
The busy worm-hunting (or maybe it was looking for grubs) mole wasn't even aware as we lightly touched it soft fur .
There were several small abrasions on the claws, and one on the nose, which are not visible in the photos. The Hairy-tailed mole has typical mole digging feet and a long snout, tapered to a small pink nose. No tentacles on the nose like the star nosed moles in the wet garden.
No bare tail like the Eastern Mole, but a cute little hairy-tailed mole.

Life is full of Bugs

 

Bald-Faced Hornet mating flight on Jewelweed, Spotted Touch-Me-Not.
Tree

Ant colony swarming
Tree

climate change