This morning I received an email from some kind souls in Palo Alto keeping watch out for a beaver in Matadero creek. See if you can guess my reply:
Yes that is a cute little muskrat and not a beaver. It is about 40-60 lbs lighter than a beaver, and he is generously showing his tail for comparison but I can’t blame her,
It made me realize that before I was watching for beavers I had never seen a muskrat. Never seen a mink and rarely seen a river otter. No wonder people mistake them when they;re starting out. It’s kind of like buying a new volkswagon and suddenly realizing how many of them are on the freeway.
You just didn’t notice with the same eyes before.
Mike Digout of Saskatchean posted this yesterday. I just love this hungry little minks commitment. He is not daunted by the cold dive or the rather large claws sticking out of his dinner.
