Tonight, I gave a program at the West Michigan Izaak Walton League annual dinner. They have a little pond on their property, and I took a short walk beside it, thinking I might see a bird, or some flower of interest.
Instead, look what I found! And the silly thing is so used to people that I got some really good pictures. This is the muskrat, Ondatra zibethicus. If you want, you can compare it with the otter.
It dove down to the bottom of the pond and came up with some salad to enjoy. Plain. No dressing (except maybe a little mud).
It sat there and watched me and ate, while I watched it. A mutually satisfactory arrangement.
I'll be bringing you the rest of the stories over the next week or so, one at a time. When interesting things happen outside those will have priority. That way, hopefully, you won't get tired of reading stories!
Hi Joan,
ReplyDeleteThat muskrat is really cute. :)
I like that salad too. Sounds kind of tame which makes for great wildlife watching.
Bye for now.
J
It has mud as the dressing.
ReplyDeleteYummy..
My brother and I saw a bunch of these on the Big Manistee. Cute little guys
ReplyDeleteoh oh so cute, so huggable. wish to see them someday in the wild too.
ReplyDeleteNostalgia. Muskrats beneath corner of seawall when we had lake place. Fun to watch!
ReplyDeleteI can see what you mean about the difference between that and the otter. The otter's fur looked sleeker, but this muskrat is so cute! Kind of like a huge wet hamster, lol
ReplyDeletethat's some salad bar that muskrat has :) Nice of him to be so accommodating. He's a handsome little guy
ReplyDeleteOh, what a great find! I would have confused it for a beaver at first, I think.
ReplyDeleteOh how cute! I love it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet little creature - you are so lucky to be able to get so close. They so say that when such creatures are about the water sources in the area are in good condition, which is always good to know.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your next lot of pictures!
Julia- nice to see you! I was actually surprised that it was so trusting. There are kids fishing days at this pond a lot, and you would think a furry thing would be wary of all those running kids.
ReplyDeleterainfield- yeah, I personally don't like the grittiness, but each to his own!
John- I'm glad to hear that they are starting to come out for the spring.
betchai- aren't there muskrats in CA? I thought they were pretty ubiquitous.
vanilla- they are so adaptable, they are found many places, but people don't see them.
Ivy- that's one of the reasons I decided the other one was an otter- the fur is much better.
Ann- He knew right where to find it- no green stuff breaking the surface yet.
Lin- naw... beavers are a lot larger.
Hi wannabee- Thanks for stopping by- they can be cute, for sure.
Polly- well, they probably prefer diversity, but they are one of the few animals that can live happily in a cattail monoculture.