Nopiming Provincial Park

Related to Beaver?  No.  Related to a Rat?  No.  It is said they are more likened to an overgrown field mouse.  Thick, richly coloured fur which keeps them warm in the icy cold waters throughout winters.  They build little mud/reed lodges for sleeping and eating in.

They are active during the later hours of the day. Muskrats do not have webbed feet and their tail is bald; both feet and tail are sparsely covered with fine hairs.  Their tail is long and more round than flat and does look like a rat tail. They use musk glands to scent their trails and communicate. Muskrats are found in slower moving rivers, streams and marshy areas and inhabit virtually all areas of North America. Valued for their fur, they are trapped in large numbers and they have numerous air borne and land predators. In spite of this their population remains healthy.  There are many fascinating facts (how they have adapted to eating underwater) about these mammals which have so well adapted to their aquatic habitats.  Check out the following Muskrat Fact Sheet at Hinterland Who’s Who

Below:  A good view of the hind feet

Below:  A muskrat’s tail – round and bare

Muskrats use their front feet like hands to grip their preferred food like cat tails.

Enjoy!

~Sharon

This pretty brown headed chickadee is known as the Boreal Chickadee.  I have seen them a few times but never out in the open areas like the Black Capped Chickadee.  These photos were taken well inside a forested area in Nopiming.  The Boreal Chickadee lives among the conifers eating insects and seeds from the cones in the trees.  The are considered a common resident of Boreal forests and will come out to feeding stations in the winter.  According to my bird reference book they don’t tend to mix with the more common Black Capped Chickadee.

Enjoy!

~Sharon

I remember loving to stomp on puffballs in the fall when out in the country as a child.  I haven’t paid much attention to them since but came across a nice bunch recently when out in Nopiming.  When they are “ripe” the spores inside explode into green-gray clouds.  Below, a few photos of Puffballs,  the first being taken in the Whiteshell before it was mature and the others from Nopiming.  You can see the spores in the cloud and this is no doubt how they reproduce by having their spores carried by the winds.

Enjoy!

~Sharon