Monday, April 14, 2008

Muskrat or beaver?

Directly behind my townhouse is a large detention pond (filled with dormant reeds), and abutting that, on the property of Singing Hills Forest Preserve, there is a natural depression which becomes a lake during wet periods as seen below.


Several times last week, I saw a dark shape swimming in an open area amongst the reeds, and today it was perched on a mud/foliage mound eating reed stalks. Despite binoculars and a 300mm lens on my digital SLR Nikon, I can't tell if it is a beaver or a muskrat, since I haven't gotten a clear view of its tail to see if it is either a long snake-like tail or a floppy paddle-like tail. Anyone have an idea from this photo? (Click photo to enlarge.)




It's a muskrat -- see here.
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3 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 14, 2008 at 1:48 PM

    Looks like a muskrat to me. I think if it was a beaver, the tail would be much more obvious.

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  2. ChuckApril 14, 2008 at 3:46 PM

    That's the way I've been leaning, too.

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  3. GREG PFLUGApril 15, 2008 at 5:46 AM

    I'd have to eat it to be certain.

    ReplyDelete