floating log

 We tied a weight to a driftwood log, and put it offshore for the turtles to sun themselves.  There are several logs partly on the shore but this one turns with the breeze and flow of water.

Sure enough, one turtle made its way to the log within 60 minutes.

Later, the Hooded Merganser hen stood on it to survey the surroundings from a new angle.

muskrat, greener pastures

The muskrat left the safety of the pond to find fresher food!  Usually, it eats plants that are growing in the water or very near the shore.  It has been a cold wet Spring, so maybe the plants are not producing enough for muskrats.  This critter ventured out of its comfort zone to fill its hunger.  Several times!

Near the safety of water, circled around to run up the slope to find fresh food.

At top of the slope, gathering a big mouthful of plant material.

Running downhill to the safety of the pond to munch the fresh food, and try the gathering again.

tracks surrounding

Last winter, the critters chewed on the tree bark.  A little wire fence protected the Tamarack tree this season. 

I see proof of success by the tracks surrounding the fence!

Sorry for so many photos of WHITE . . .  we have gotten a lot of snow!

muskrat home

Several muskrats Ondatra zibethicus live in a burrow on the east shore of the pond. 

This year, I noticed an area of collapsed dirt over their burrow. Recently, it seemed they were active on the north shore of the pond, digging a new burrow where they may spend the winter. 

Some muskrats build domed houses of mud and vegetation visible above ground, but just as often they dig burrows with an underwater entrance.

painted turtle sunning among reeds

 

muskrat whiskers

The muskrat Ondatra zibethicus was gathering breakfast this morning near the pond. 

He has a short soft underfur that traps air for insulation and buoyancy, and with longer stiff guard hairs over the underfur.  The whiskers stand out from the face.

Their tails are 7 to 11 inches long. No fur here . . .  the tail is covered in scales.  When they dive to move around, the tail is flattened vertically and serves as a rudder.

 

hare

The pond has been under a comforter of white snow. The snow layer insulates and protects the critters tucked in among the rocks, mud, and dormant plants below water and ice.

On a sunny day, we saw a large rabbit sitting in the snow near the pond. It created a depression in the snow among reeds and wildflower stems, and snuggled down there all day. At dusk, it was gone from that spot. The next day the sunshine was bright on the white snow. The rabbit was in the same spot again, and napped all day. I suspect it was a White-tailed Jackrabbit Lepus townsendii, actually a hare.  Jackrabbits are nocturnal hunters and are known to take daylight naps in a shallow hole. 

tracks, cracks, marks, mysteries

Snow overnight.  A thin sheet of ice on the pond beneath the slush.  Wonderous tracks and marks this morning.  Maybe the muskrats, or the mallards, or other birds, or the mice or voles?  Maybe all of them, cavorting at dawn!  Tracks in a row, wandering.  Slide marks in the slush like a runway with bunched snow at the end.  Cracks expanding in the ice, icy fingers spreading both black and white!

 

water sports

Sunny and warmer, closer to normal weather today, after an early snow in October.  Several Mallards are getting ready for their travel south by feeding on the dwindling supply of plant material in the pond.  But the resident muskrats do not like to share their food supply.  We watched several encounters today between the animals.  

muskrat tail

The muskrats who live here were gathering breakfast this morning in the pond.  One, with tail held high, munched aquatic plants growing to just below the water surface.  Their tails are 7 to 11 inches long, covered in scales rather than fur, and flattened vertically (side-to-side) to serve as a rudder in swimming. 

Eastern Forktail damselfly

This damselfly, a young orange female Eastern Forktail, is of a species often seen near ponds in Minnesota.  The male Eastern Forktail is mostly green and black.  Older females look blue or frosty violet.  Forktails Ischnura verticalis live through winter in the water as nymphs, feeding on smaller aquatic critters.  But they are also prey for larger aquatic creatures.  If they make it through to springtime, they emerge out of the water as adult damselflies.  If they can avoid being eaten by a bird, they will mate and deposit eggs into plant stems or floating material.  The eggs later hatch and release new nymphs into the pond for next year's damselflies.

muskrat mid-summer meals

Now that the clover growing near the pond is on the wane, the muskrats are finding other plants to eat.

Here, the muskrats eat pondweed, rushes, grasses, sedges, and other aquatic vegetation.  We do not often see them feeding right where they find food.  They usually cut and drag plants to a feeding spot near one of their travel paths.  There, they can eat without worrying about predators.

Muskrats consume about one-third of their weight each day.  That's a lot of greens!

muskrat take-in dinner

This adult Muskrat is probably taking a meal home to the nest.  They can bear more than one litter per year.  Carrying this much food, rather than eating on the spot, suggests this adult has a litter unable yet to feed on their own.  In Minnesota, Muskrats, Ondatra zibethicus, eat vegetation they they find and harvest in wetlands.  They weigh 2 to 5 pounds, and live in burrows or domed nests on the edge of ponds or streams.

muskrat tail

The muskrats are nocturnal; we usually see them around the pond later in the day. 
Muskrats use their tails as rudders to steer themselves in the water and for a little extra propulsion.
Their tails have scales instead of fur.  A muskrat tail is long, thin, and roundish, flattened side to side.
Muskrats use their tails as rudders to steer themselves in the water and for a little extra propulsion.

muskrat on the pond

Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) lives in marshes, ponds, and other wet areas.  At first, we thought this might be a beaver, but it is only 14 inches long and a rounded 'rat' tail.  Muskrats eat roots and stems of wetland plants plus snails, crayfish, fish, frogs.

feeder garden bandits

 Although the feeder garden is intended to feed birds, the squirrels find it enticing too.  The Red Squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus usually gathers food on the ground below the tray of seeds.  The Grey Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis prefers to find ways to leap on the tray, dropping from a branch above or leaping from a stump nearby.  The tray is on a pole with a "slinky" metal coil suspended -- which the squirrels do not climb.

snag tree

"Snag" refers to a still-standing dead tree,

or one dying from damage, often missing its top or most of the smaller branches. This old snag has been here in the wild wild woods at least ten years.  It still has bark up one side and several growing branches lean out in that direction every year.  The exposed wood gets softer as time goes by, so it nurtures mushrooms and insects.

 

 The southeast side is bald, revealing its value to the wildlife that live in the woods. In cold weather, birds shelter overnight in the old woodpecker holes.  In nesting season, it becomes home to at least one new clutch of avian eggs.  The woodpeckers and nuthatches find nutritious insects hiding among the crevices. Today, it harbors a nut storehouse and a cozy grass-lined den for some critter.

A pile of peelings from Bitternut Hickory nuts.

Peeled nuts stashed in a hole of the snag.

stained glass inspiration

wild berries

The birds are not the only wildlife
enjoying berries in the wild woods. 
The squirrels hang upside-down
in the mulberry tree to reach
the berries as they ripen.

critters at the woods' edge

This Eastern Cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) has a thick fur coat in cold weather, but does not turn white like the native hares do.  This may be the rabbit that saunters around the fenced veggie garden all spring, looking for new lettuce to enjoy. They live in the brush pile at the edge of the woods, and like to munch on corn and other seeds that blow out of the tray feeders on windy days.  There seemed to be some accumulated in the sheltered depths of the toad haven, half buried by snow.