The Secret in the Hidden Pond

 
Took my three mile road loop walk today. There is a little pond on the way that is all but hidden in the summer when the greenery is taller. I know it's there, and have seen wood ducks. However, I've only been able to know that by taking long zoom photos and looking at them later. They were all so terrible, I never even put one on the blog, but I could make the ID because the ducks are so distinctive.

Not only is it hidden, but it's inaccessible, being surrounded by a large cattail marsh in standing water. You might be able to approach it from the back, but that's technically all private property. I've never tried, at any rate.



However, today, with the reeds broken down and no snow cover, look what the camera found. It's a fine muskrat lodge.



Oddly enough, the coloring of this photo is really interesting. All I did was zoom in more. Same time, almost the same vantage point (just a few steps apart). It almost looks like a negative.

Just for fun, here's the negative. It gives a most positive impression.

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A Place to Call Home

 
I caught this picture last week, but hadn't shared it yet. It's a handsome muskrat lodge made of cattails. Sometimes they dig lodges in banks, but often they make a lodge something like a beaver but not from woody material.

I am thankful for a place to call home, and I spent part of the afternoon in a warm bed with no cattails. Worked 8-3 today, and am getting ready to head in for the night.

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River Rat!

 
No, not a sports team from anywhere. This is the real deal- a muskrat in the Pentwater River. I was quite a bit above it, so had to zoom in a lot, but you can see the skinny, naked tail.



I just like the shapes of the ripples it made as it was swimming upstream.



Every so often it would come toward the bank and appear to sample some bit of vegetation.



These pictures aren't nearly so good as the ones I got in Furry Swimmer, Part 2, but I was happy to see one of these critters. Although they are very common, I don't actually see one very often.

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