Muskrat – Worth A Dam

Front Row Seating

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Recent Sightings, Video June 22, 2011

This morning I noticed that the footbridge is actually a “plum” spot to watch beavers from!

: A plum spot to see beavers!

It was unreasonably windy and cold when the sun came up, but the view took my mind off the discomfort. The expected and the unexpected swam home this morning at 5 :30 and 5:31. I was a little surprised. This changes everything! Hold the presses! Our littlest kit-yearling (who I had nearly decided to call ‘REED’ because of his favorite building material) came home at 5:30 with a sizable branch. Less than a minute later our second larger kit came home with reeds. Maybe they build most with what they eat least?

Then the pair made some trips to the dam, adjusting branches and mudding, which was nice to see. I especially enjoyed their proximity to each other, as I think they each cue one another to keep up the good work.

After seeing two so close together I was cheerfully hopeful a third would appear. You can imagine how excited I was to see this!

And did I glare at the man jogging over the bridge at that particular moment! Sheesh! Lucky for him the mystery was shortly revealed to be a usual suspect

Nice mornings at the dam,you should come too.

I’M going out to clean the pasture spring;

I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away

(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):

I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.

I’m going out to fetch the little calf

That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young,

It totters when she licks it with her tongue.

I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.

Robert Frost

Muskrat Madness

heidi08 Recent Sightings December 11, 2008

Last night’s beaver visit featured a new display by one of our larger muskrats. We might call it an “aggressive dive”. He would approach very close and then hurl his furry body into the water making as much noise as possible. I’m guessing that he was thinking “so what you can slap your tail? I can slap my whole body!”

We are starting to see more of a muskrat population return, which isn’t surprising. Did you know muskrats are such prodigious breeders they can produce 20 off spring a year? Check out this photo of baby muskrats in a nest of reeds.

In addition to sharing territory with their beaver neighbors, muskrats share some characteristics as well. They are great swimmers and divers and can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes. While their appetite is more egalitarian than the beavers, they are happy to eat willow and cattail. As we head into the winter months we will likely see more of the muskrats and less of the beavers, leading to the common confusion between the two.

This video guide to telling them apart was one my first efforts and the first time I really saw how fun making a video could be.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=fEsaXZoXnCw]