Thursday, April 9, 2009

Muskrat Love

Some observations from the Stebbins Wildlife refuge in Longmeadow recently....



Watching various birdlife peacefully taking turns at a feeder and the seed that fell about the ground, one particularly fiery goose arrived and proceeded to alienate his comrades by chasing them into the water...



...and then turned on anybody else that happened to be in his sphere of influence.



The ducks minded their own business and watched from a distance, staying clear of any trouble...



From across the water something came swimming to the shore at full speed...I thought it was a beaver at first but as it got closer I could see it was too small...



It reached the shore about five feet in front of me and scampered onto dry land, revealing itself to be a muskrat.



The critter proceeded to waddle right towards me...



At first I thought maybe too many human visitors had spoiled it, and it was fearlessly coming to me looking for food. So I stood there waiting to see how close it would actually get, and it walked right up until it was about a foot or so away. Then I shifted my feet slightly so I could position for a good shot of it...



...and it nearly jumped! It sprang back to the water and disappeared under a trail of bubbles. Apparently not knowing I was even there, until I moved...

2 comments:

VanDog said...

Lucky you weren't killed. That vicious creature could have nibbled your shoelaces off.

Anonymous said...

I so enjoy reading your blog. The photos of nature and birds are truely wonderful. I've never seen a muskrat close up like that. very cool.