Busy as a beaver...err...nutria rat!

After a full day of going through what seemed like mountains of accumulated "stuff", I headed out the front door.  With Ms. Ez close behind, I wandered the hillside.  The cooling air of the late afternoon felt delightfully refreshing and I do believe Ezzy felt the first hint of fall in the air.  She pranced around like a pup instead of the old dog she is.  She wanted to sniff the air and bolt after any squirrel that dared to make a dash from tree to tree.  Finally she settled into the calm pace behind me and acted more like a protector than a gleeful pup.  Her half hour of play had worn her out to the point that my slow paced trek was pleasing to her.  We finished our walk in relative quietness.

As I was nearing the small persimmon tree near the marsh edge, a movement caught my eye.  Something large was coming out of the marsh.  I put my hand on Ez's head and she sat.  The motion is her command for sitting still and watching. We stayed as still as church mice as we watched the marsh grasses sway with the steady pace of some animal.  Then out popped a nutria.  This large rat-like critter paid us no heed as it was on a mission!  Michael has been mulching around the old oak trees that sit practically in the Bayou waters.  As mulch he has been using the natural debris that washed in with the recent hurricane.  This is nothing more than dead marsh grass and small twigs and makes perfect mulch for any areas that can stand salt.  The nutria rat had other intentions for this mulch, though.  I watched as she would gnaw the pieces into workable sizes and then stuff her cheeks full of the softened grasses.  Away she would go..through the couple of feet of marsh grass to the waters of the Bayou.  There she swam until she came to a sloop in the shore and dove under.  After about ten minutes, she would pop back up out of the water and come back to the mulch pile.  This went on and on until Ms. Ez decided that she could sit still no longer.  We had been watching for nearly thirty or forty minutes and the nutria had made four trips.

The nutria's actions were not unusual.  She was on a mission...a mission to build a nest!  Obviously she had already found, reclaimed or dug the tunnel up under the marsh.  Once the tunnel was cleared, she most likely dug a chamber that would serve as her nursery or her overwintering home.   Her trips to the mulch pile were made to collect soft materials to build up a mound inside the chamber and to line her nest.  This would keep her and her kits warm and dry come this winter.  The underwater entrance would protect her and the kits from most predators.  Although the nutria rats are considered to be a nuisance and an invasive species, I must say that they have adapted well.  They are quite adept at surviving.  As long as she does not present us with hundreds of little nutria rats over the next few years, she will be allowed to stay in the Bayou.  The alligators usually manage to keep the population in check so as long as no one rids the Bayou of my gators, we will be ok!  Little Ms. Nutria...build your nest in peace and stay snug this winter!