The Mammals Take Over

It was nice quiet in Estabrook this morning, and I almost had the place to myself. With all the leaves off the trees and even the bushes, it feels like walking through the skeleton of the biome we enjoyed throughout the summer. Everyplace seems much more accessible now, so I wandered into an area that I’ve seldom visited before, and look at who I woke up from their nap.

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I was as startled as they were, which wasn’t too much, and the first thing I blurted out as “oh, sorry” as though I had opened the bathroom door without knocking. There were two more that were a little more eager to put some distance between us, but these two hung around for pictures. I wonder if they are the quartet we saw on the soccer fields so many times over the summer.

Meanwhile, it is looking like a really rough winter to be a cottonwood tree along the river. The beaver have been busy as, well …

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Last, and perhaps least, size-wise anyway, is a critter new to these pages, and for all the world it appears to be a groundhog (Marmota monax), aka woodchuck or Canada marmot.

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That brings our mammal picture count to 9, if I remember correctly:
1. Deer
2. Beaver
3. Raccoon
4. Groundhog
5. Rabbit
6. Muskrat
7. Gray squirrel
8. Red squirrel
9. Chipmunk

Plus 4 that I spotted but could never capture “on film”, at least so far:
10. Mink
11. Possum
12. Bat
13. Mouse

And that doesn’t even count the coyotes that everyone and their brother have photographed trotting down the roads and sidewalks of Shorewood. I’ve heard reports of them in Estabrook, but never had the pleasure myself.

As for avians, there are still a few mallards on the river, I spot Canada geese overhead from time to time, and the trees are full of chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers chatting away amongst themselves.

I guess Estabrook’s a busy place after all, eh?