Nutria rats and ospreys!

Nutria rats.. hmm.. yeah, we covered them before.. back in another post, but when you live on a bayou, nutria rats are a part of daily life. This afternoon, as I was staring blankly out the window lost in deep thought, I was abruptly brought back to Earth by movement in the Bayou. At first, I thought it was an otter playing in the water, but this animal was not nearly as graceful as the otter. This critter was lumbering along the edge of the marsh. Perhaps a raccoon? I slipped out the door with my handydandy camera. As I neared the marsh, I realized it was a nutria rat munching out on mussels that were left high and dry by the north wind. Normally, nutrias are vegetarians but the do occasionally eat insects, crustaceans and mussels. I suppose with the cold weather that we have been experiencing, diets have changed for a lot of the denizens of the Bayou. I assume that the need for nourishment is number one on the list of survival musts and to change to something a tad more filling than marsh roots is natural. This nutria rat never paid me any heed as it fed. Then a thought..if I am cold standing here all dry and snug in my jacket, how in the world does this animal stay warm? With the nights dipping into the low twenties, being wet has to be hard. I know that they dig or ummm..steal burrows (from other animals) in the marsh edge, but surely this burrow must be lined with some plant material to make a dry bed. It also has surprised me in the past to see a mother nutria with several babies tagging along behind in the middle of winter. Personally, it would seem to make much more sense for their birthing season to be in warmer weather! It obviously does not bother them as there seems to be an ever-growing population of these rodents. I watched this one for a while until she swam around the corner of one part of the Bayou. They so remind me of beavers! A large rat-like beaver!

Also watching her, was the osprey. I

know that if the nutria had little ones

trailing behind her, they would have been fair game for the osprey. Those sharp talons could grasp just about anything and a baby nutria rat would have been easy pickings. Today though, the nutria was safe, the osprey had a large mullet in it clasp. Our ospreys have multiplied in the past few years from just one pair to six pairs now. Some of these will soon move to a new territory as food supply and nesting areas become slim. With all of the clearing for construction sites around here, the ospreys and eagles are in dire need of new nesting sites. There are two pairs of ospreys that nest in the back of the Bayou each year. I have grown used to hearing their

screams and hope to always have some nice tall trees for them. My Bayou is dwindling.. the trees are being cut.. houses and roads are being built. A sad day for the wildlife.