Category Archives: mammals

Muskrat clues

  When Derek Kite recently posted some shots of a muskrat grooming, I was alerted to the possibility of sighting one of these large semi-aquatic voles myself (it is not a rat). Today, from behind some shoreline rocks, small waves … Continue reading

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March marmot

  This is the third year in a row I have used the title: march marmot. But, this is the earliest date, by nearly two weeks. Maybe it is the particularly warm mid March; maybe it is the happenstance of … Continue reading

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Spring cleaning

  Two very different species visited today, and each set about doing a bit of spring cleaning.  First to come by were three deer: a doe and two fawns. This is the mother and a fawn who always stuck close … Continue reading

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Muskrat grooming

  This muskrat was eating some water milfoil fetched from the bottom of the channel. Saving some for later perhaps? Some grooming. Much better.

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Five-o’clock coyote

  Some animals have rather regular habits: Birds turn up at the feeder about the same time each morning; I have seen a beaver swim by at about the same time each evening.  For the second day in a row, … Continue reading

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Vole runways

  Voles do not hibernate. Rather, they spend the winter underground in burrows and forage above ground using a labyrinth of runways built under the snow. When the snow melts, the runways become exposed.   Some vole runways are revealed by receding … Continue reading

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Kestrel versus vole

  Last July, I took a picture of a heron about to consume a vole. Yesterday, it was of a Kestrel. Voles are rather low on the food chain.

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Contested carcass

  Doug Thorburn and his trail camera have done it again: produced a remarkable sequence of images. Last time, they were of a bull elk preparing for a date. This time, they are of a carcass being contested by a … Continue reading

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Otter haven

  I see river otters a few times a year, but only when they are wandering. This week, I saw them at home.  Tracks across the ice, local piles of snow, and openings in the ice, all hinted at a … Continue reading

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Tracks in snow

  There is nothing like an overnight dusting of snow to hint at the number of animals happy to contest the deed to your property. It is also striking to see how often the tracks of one species share space … Continue reading

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