Muskrat sighted in the Charles

[Carole Berney]

Hi river folks, Just wanted to share photos I took yesterday or a muskrat
friend who had no fear of the photographer. Perhaps he or she was too hungry
to care...Carole

[Aaron Dushku]

Awesome!

Aaron

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Friends of the Watertown Riverfront" group.
> To post to this group, send email to fo...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to fotwr+un...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/fotwr?hl=en.
>
> <muskrat swim cropped close.jpg>
> <muskrat chews stick.jpg>
> <muskrat swim (2).jpg>

[Anne Benaquist]

Beautiful, Carole! Thanks!
Anne

[Zubrowski, Eileen]

Wonderful to have a gorgeous wild creature cross my desk on a dreary
Friday morning.

Thinks, Carole.

Eileen Z

--

[David Jay]

Cool! Was this just above the dam? I think I saw something there years
ago. Great photos, as always.

David

[Sharon Teitelbaum]

This looks like a critter we sometimes see in our yard in warmer times,
nibbling greens. Could it be the same type of animal? Our critter seemed
to live under the shed some summers, and scurry from yard to yard sometimes.
Very cute guy. Thanks for the great photos.

Sharon
 

-----Original Message-----
From: fo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:fo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
Carole Berney
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 8:31 AM
To: fo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [fotwr] Muskrat sighted in the Charles

Hi river folks, Just wanted to share photos I took yesterday or a muskrat
friend who had no fear of the photographer. Perhaps he or she was too hungry
to care...Carole

--

[sea dog press]

That is probably a woodchuck. I've seen muskrats in the water near Perkins
in past years.

Leslie

[David Jay]

Sharon-

That sounds like a woodchuck (also known as a groundhog) as it lives
under your shed rather than in the river.

David

[Katherine Diamond]

The muskrat has a long, naked tail like a rat and is probably not the rodent in your yard, Sharon.

Kathy Diamond
24 Hersom Street
Watertown, MA 02472
617-926-6025
fax 866-926-0980
kath...@comcast.net

[Stephen O'Reilly]

On another wild nature note a couple months ago after shopping at Target on my way to the car I walked past a Hawk who had captured a seagull and was doing
the classic covering its prey with its wings till it killed and secured it before flying away with it.
..Steve
 

> Subject: Re: [fotwr] Muskrat sighted in the Charles
> From: kath...@comcast.net
> Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 10:40:13 -0500
> To: fo...@googlegroups.com

[Zubrowski, Eileen]

This life ain’t easy. 

…Eileen

 

---

[Sharon Teitelbaum]

You're right, Kathy, my critter does not have a long rat-tail. He's a
woodchuck or groundhog. Thanks, all for the feedback.

[Sharon Teitelbaum]

Very cool -- thanks, Steve!  Thanks also for this detail: “covering its prey with its wings till it killed and secured it before flying away.“  Never knew that. 

 

Picking up on the hawk thread . . . there was a hawk right outside my second story window in an arbor vitae last week, eating an already-dead sparrow.  I noticed him initially b/c of some very animated sparrow-de-feathering he was doing.  After that he calmly made lunch of the little bird.  And THEN, after sitting for a moment or two, he cleaned off his beak and cheeks (which were not visibly bloody or anything) by scraping off his beak on a branch, using the kind of alternating motion you use when sharpening a knife on a stone.  At that moment I first thought to photograph him (I’m no Carol Berney!); my iphone was right next to me the whole time. As I lifted it up to get the shot, he (I suspect) perceived my motion and took off.  Who knows what would have come next if he hadn’t flown away?  Toothpicks, maybe?  Floss?  Some claw-washing with Purell? 

 

My 2^nd floor office window faces out into two very close-up 3-storey arbor vitae, so I have sort of a hunting blind (without the hunting).  One of the things I’ve witnessed up here is that when it rains, squirrels sometimes find a bare branch to sit out the rain, and they flip their tails up over their heads so they’re covered.  I’ve also seen them catch a little nap that way. 

 

Sharon 

 

From: fo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:fo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Stephen O'Reilly

Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 11:57 AM
To: fo...@googlegroups.com

[Ernesta Kraczkiewicz]

Sharon, what fabulous little verbal snap shots!  Thanks!  Ernesta

[Carole Berney]

Thanks, Sharon, for the nature sightings. Oh, yes, when you lift your camera, especially if it's not really slowly, light can reflect off it and the movement immediately sends the bird away. I've missed many shots this way! The behavior you described---a bird wiping its beak off alternating sides against a branch--is something I've observed in all sorts of birds. I guess it's their way of keeping tidy. And the squirrel with tail as umbrella is another natural witnessing I appreciate. I will send next my own sighting today--of a squirrel staring right at me with its tail blowing around, and a great horned owl (sighted in a spruce tree--way up!-- in the dell at Mt. Auburn Cemetery). Thanks! Carole

---

From: fo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:fo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Sharon Teitelbaum
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 1:15 PM