This shrew was found dead in the sink in the cabin.
The shrew is an insectivore about the size of a mouse, with an elongated snout. They have a high metabolism rate in keeping with their small size, so they are voracious hunters, feeding both night and day. Ornate shrews typically are found in brackish water marshes, along streams, in brushy areas of valleys and foothills, and in forests. They especially favor low, dense vegetation that forms a cover for worms and insects.
The various species of long-tailed shrews in California are difficult to differentiate, but the most common is the Ornate Shrew, of which there are six or so sub-species. As with many shrews, the adult animals in spring are mostly the young born the previous summer; summer populations consist of these adults, now old (Ornate Shrews seldom live more than 12 to 16 months), and the young of the year. By autumn, the old adults have died and populations consist almost entirely of the year’s young.
Here are some photographs from the Internet of live shrews:
Monterey Ornate Shrew
American water shrew
This is the range of the ornate shrew.