Trying to sneak closer, he heard the crunch of ice from above and bolted for the creek to be met by the solid slab of ice covering the it. Nice views of his feet and tail. They are funny to watch as they walk across the ice.
Finally making it to safety.
Heading for cover.
At this point he came up right beneath me, posed for a few shots, and then disappeared.
Away from the creek and back on the canal, I came across a couple of holes in the ground. After approaching to investigate, I noticed a disturbance under the ice. I watched another muskrat from a different point of view. He came back and forth to his den 3 times which made for some interesting shots. Notice the large air pocket directly behind him.
After reading a bit about muskrats, I was a bit shocked to find out that the average lifespan of a muskrat in the wild is 1 year, but some can live up to four. A rather sad existence for a pretty cool little critter. Happy New Year everyone!
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6 comments:
They are pretty cool critters, though we had a dog once who thought different. Muskrats lived only seconds after she seen it...Very cool that it hung around for minute for pics.
Take care -
Wow, what wonderful photos! An auspicious way to begin the new year! (I see far more nutria than muskrats.)
Casey and Patricia, thanks for visiting and commenting. Patricia, I've never seen nutria in the wild before, as we do not have them up here. They look like a cross between a beaver and a big muskrat! Awesome!
Bill
GREAT pictures! Wow, right place, right time. Speaking of nutria, they are wild looking. Like a 'rat on 'roids. I saw them throughout the Outer Banks of NC last March. Check these pics out if you'd like:
http://bearlyalyssa.blogspot.com/2012/03/nags-head-beach-another-evening-at.html
Thanks for the link Alyssa. Nutrias looks pretty cool. I remember seeing a show on National Geographic about nutria and the fact that they are pretty much gator bait down south. I also remember seeing that they can cause quite a bit of damage to bank systems. Thanks for the kind words on my rat pics.
Bill
They're incredibly invasive, and were brought to the US as a fur-bearing species to be trapped. Well, they exploded and now completely eat out wetlands, and out compete beavers and muskrats. In the Outer Banks, they were brought up and were in a fur farm, so they WERE contained, then a hurricane back in the '30s-'40s I think freed them to the wild, and can now allegedly be found up into the Chesapeake Bay area. They were originally introduced in the Lousiana coastline I think. But now, due to man and mother nature, they're spreading.
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