A glance along the list of recent postings (to the right) might lead one to suspect that this blog is classist: biased towards Class Aves; discriminating against Class Mammalia. The list shows many postings about birds, but only a few about mammals.
Actually, the blog merely records what is seen during wanderings: Nature’s offerings are biased.
Around the Lake, there are many seasonally changing species of birds. They are often highly visible against the sky or the open waters of the Lake. Many are both spritely and tolerant of human observers. The number of easily observable mammals seems fewer, and those that are not hibernating are usually skulking through the brush. Postings reflect this visual accessibility.
Nevertheless, this last week encountered two mammals. Strikingly, each was out in the open.
A coyote scours a vast field for tasty voles hiding beneath the snow. The coyote was distinctly suspicious of the distant human who pointed a device in its direction. Coyotes cannot quite grasp that humans also use the verb, shoot, for a camera.
The second mammal is a muskrat. It wasn’t particularly concerned with the presence of a human, but then muskrats don’t have very good vision. Here it is seen sitting on a branch in the water enjoying some aquatic weed.
There is no good justification for including this image, other than the apparent joie de vivre exhibited by the muskrat sitting on the edge of border ice.
Two mammals
A glance along the list of recent postings (to the right) might lead one to suspect that this blog is classist: biased towards Class Aves; discriminating against Class Mammalia. The list shows many postings about birds, but only a few about mammals.
Actually, the blog merely records what is seen during wanderings: Nature’s offerings are biased.
Around the Lake, there are many seasonally changing species of birds. They are often highly visible against the sky or the open waters of the Lake. Many are both spritely and tolerant of human observers. The number of easily observable mammals seems fewer, and those that are not hibernating are usually skulking through the brush. Postings reflect this visual accessibility.
Nevertheless, this last week encountered two mammals. Strikingly, each was out in the open.
A coyote scours a vast field for tasty voles hiding beneath the snow. The coyote was distinctly suspicious of the distant human who pointed a device in its direction. Coyotes cannot quite grasp that humans also use the verb, shoot, for a camera.
The second mammal is a muskrat. It wasn’t particularly concerned with the presence of a human, but then muskrats don’t have very good vision. Here it is seen sitting on a branch in the water enjoying some aquatic weed.
There is no good justification for including this image, other than the apparent joie de vivre exhibited by the muskrat sitting on the edge of border ice.
