I went out for a quick walk to see what birds I could find and thought I would check back in the wetland where I saw 'the brown things' foraging a while ago. And lo! A lovely face!
Tis a muskrat,
Ondrata zibethicus. These rodents, and thus related to rats, are quite large and the only species in its genus. The 'musk' part of its name is thought to come from the Algonquin
muscascus meaning 'it is red.' The rat is well, because it is related to rats though not of the
Rattus genus.
It doesn't look to terribly like a rat though. Its face is capybara-like and the coloring around the ears is nice. At first I did think it was a beaver until it flipped around and I saw its thinner tail. This one in my neighborhood is a lady and she had two babies with her this morning. They did not seem to perturbed by my presence like last time. They have really glossy fur.
Anyways I saw: the usual scrub jays, robins, downy woodpecker, juncos (Oregon variety), a slew of sparrows, some kind of thrush, some hawk, warblers (a few), house finch, and a vireo I could not get a picture of! Looking in my book probably Hutton's, the only one out here this time of year! It was good to get out again but didn't stay long because it was so cold!
African goose. Ornamental goose. I had no idea there was such a thing as an ornamental goose but there you go. It is crazy big and hard to miss lumbering towards you as you approach the pond far ahead of the other small ducks...
Red-breasted sapsucker! I saw this while talking on the phone outside my office!!!
Turkey vulture and fox me and my brother saw while driving through the suburbs.
