Muskrat Love....

This has been a busy week! It was hard to find time to blog. In the past two weeks, I acquired the following three photos of muskrats:

Muskrat (Seneca Falls, 3/11)

First up is a trail camera photo of a muskrat in our backyard. This is my very first muskrat on the camera trap. We have several ponds on the property and the 'rats are tunneling into the dikes more and more each year.  I guess I don't mind. I enjoy seeing the muskrats.

Muskrat tracks (Savannah, NY 3/11)

This next photo was taken last Thursday on Howland Island Wildlife Management Area. The weather was unseasonably warm and I hiked for several hours and got some nice photos. This was one of my favorite. Muskrats will follow any little trickle of water when they disperse and these muskrat tracks were in a small muddy rut. HIWMA has no shortage of muskrats! Note how long the nails are on the rear foot (track in the top left corner of the photo).

Muskrat hind foot (3/11)

The final photo is of a muskrat hind foot. At one of the den visits last week, one of the DEC biologists had this muskrat in his truck and showed it to my students and I. He is nuisance trapping on some State land.  Note the "fringe" on each toe making the foot more efficient for swimming.