Comments on Rurality: Mystery critters

Thanks everybody! I guess there is no way to tell ...

2008-03-10T14:50:00.000-05:00

Thanks everybody! I guess there is no way to tell for sure, since the photos are so dark.

Sorry I didn't respond to comments earlier... I've been away at a gardening conference.

We have previously seen muskrats, beavers, and otters. We should also have minks, according to teh range maps. But no nutria (they're further south) or fishers (they're further north). No tracks in the immediate area at present.

Thanks also to those who left links, I will check them out.

Muskrat and possibly a Fisher Cat. Fishers are mor...

2008-03-10T09:57:00.000-05:00

Muskrat and possibly a Fisher Cat. Fishers are more nocturnal than Otters, yet similar in size.

Fun challenge! I vote for otter and beaver (2008!...

2008-03-10T02:32:00.000-05:00

Fun challenge! I vote for otter and beaver (2008!). That angular, ramrod straight tail sure indicates a beaver to me. Check out beavers-beavers.com/beavers-pictures.htm (third photo). Bob Arnebeck has lots of info on beavers, otters, muskrat, and minks (see geocities.com/bobarnebeck/identification.html).

Not sure either, but we DO have a LOT of beavers i...

2008-03-09T20:26:00.000-05:00

Not sure either, but we DO have a LOT of beavers in this area. (I live about 30 miles north of your area, used to be on a farm and the beavers built a dam in our creek!) But I've never seen one up-close and personal, so couldn't be sure.

Interesting cam pix!

I thought otter or mink. The body appears more li...

2008-03-09T00:51:00.000-06:00

I thought otter or mink. The body appears more like an otter.

My first instant impression is that they are otter...

2008-03-08T16:36:00.000-06:00

My first instant impression is that they are otters. What ever they are I love the fact that you are able to catch them on camera.

No sort of educated opinion, but I thought otter a...

2008-03-07T10:52:00.000-06:00

No sort of educated opinion, but I thought otter and muskrat first. But really I like looking at the animal cam! Thanks for the post.

When I saw that pic, I thought it was one of those...

2008-03-07T04:39:00.000-06:00

When I saw that pic, I thought it was one of those fish that walk on the land.. lol! I'm such a dim-wit...nuff said.

Loved the heron pictures. Soooo very pretty :)

I vote mink and muskrat.Based upon the time of day...

2008-03-06T19:19:00.000-06:00

I vote mink and muskrat.
Based upon the time of day, manily and picking two animals close in size to eachother.
We have toms of muskrats, and the shape of that one seems quite similar to those I see here all the time. Picking another nocturnal animal similarly size, I'd pick mink--they're known to be good fishers and walk creek banks at night.
My only experience with otters has been that they enjoy broad daylight.

Hello,I have been reading your blog site for a whi...

2008-03-06T10:58:00.000-06:00

Hello,

I have been reading your blog site for a while now, and have had it linked on my blog for a while now. I was wondering if you would consider linking to my site as an exchange to encourage more traffic to both our sites - it seems that our audiences could have similar interests in the outdoors, photography, camping and more.

Anyway, just thought it might be useful - hope all is well, look forward to reading your posts (I use Google Reader to get the RSS posts).

All the best,

Mungo
http://mungobah.blogspot.com

This blog contains tutorials, information and photographs on bushcraft, camping, hiking, photography, nature, plants, politics, project management, and posts and photos on everything from Mors Kochanski, to Ray Mears and Bear Grylls, Les Stroud of Survivorman fame, canoeing in Algonquin Park, Toronto, Ontario and much more.

I vote 2 otters. IMHOLOLfun game

2008-03-06T08:49:00.000-06:00

I vote 2 otters. IMHO

LOL

fun game

Love the Game Cam......keep up the good work!

2008-03-06T06:36:00.000-06:00

Love the Game Cam......keep up the good work!

I agree with everyone (except FC, but only because...

2008-03-06T05:32:00.000-06:00

I agree with everyone (except FC, but only because of his attempts at puns) that they must be otters. I hope you can set the camera a little close in the future.

Any tracks in the area?

my guess would have been Muskrat also!

2008-03-05T20:50:00.000-06:00

my guess would have been Muskrat also!

I otter know this one, but I'm otterly clueless.On...

2008-03-05T17:31:00.000-06:00

I otter know this one, but I'm otterly clueless.
One may be an otter and two could be his dotter.

Do you have beavers around there? That skinny look...

2008-03-05T17:05:00.000-06:00

Do you have beavers around there? That skinny looking tail could actually be the side-shot of a flat beaver tail, maybe...

I vote with the one otter one muskrat contingent, ...

2008-03-05T15:08:00.000-06:00

I vote with the one otter one muskrat contingent, but it is hard to say. Neat photos anyhow

No experience here, Rurality, and no opinion - I'm...

2008-03-05T12:46:00.000-06:00

No experience here, Rurality, and no opinion - I'm just enjoying both the photos and the discussion.

Whatever the critters are, I hope you see them again.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Otters. Quite possibly 1. pregnant otter and 2. ba...

2008-03-05T12:34:00.000-06:00

Otters. Quite possibly 1. pregnant otter and 2. baby-daddy otter.

I think they're both otters.

2008-03-05T09:54:00.000-06:00

I think they're both otters.

I would say Otter or mink.Definitely NOT Nutria. W...

2008-03-05T09:24:00.000-06:00

I would say Otter or mink.

Definitely NOT Nutria. We have those here in Oregon and they are much fatter with bigger heads.

Hmm, you may be right. In the critter #1 pic, I wa...

2008-03-05T07:59:00.000-06:00

Hmm, you may be right. In the critter #1 pic, I was thinking that it is actually showing just half of his body. But it's kind of hard to tell. And I thought that critter #2 was much chunkier, but it's really difficult to discern where his back stops and where the brush behind him begins. Possibly he's not as big as I'd thought. If he's slim, he probably is an otter.

(The un-articulated point of the first paragraph o...

2008-03-05T07:52:00.000-06:00

(The un-articulated point of the first paragraph of my previous comment being that the two critters look to be the same size, whereas a muskrat would look noticeably smaller than an otter.)

Actually, my gut impression is that they are both ...

2008-03-05T07:50:00.000-06:00

Actually, my gut impression is that they are both otters. Muskrats have skinny tails, but they are substantially smaller than otters. They're also shaped differently: more like a round furry ball with a rat tail vs. the sinuous weasel shape of an otter.

So I'd guess that creature #1 is an otter, and creature #2 is an otter with a skinny, fur-slicked tail. If he just crawled out of water, that could have slicked his tail so it looks ratty rather than otter-like.