As I picked my way back on foot, stepping gingerly around the ice, snow, trash and water on the ground, I saw a head pop up at the far end of the water. Slowly, I made my way around the edge of the ditch and closer to the furry creature. Apparently I did something to bridge it's threshold between caution and fear, because it took off under the ice. I tracked the silhouette with my lens, thrown off a little by its skinny tail. Not a beaver then.
I happily played a sort of tag with the creature for the next twenty minutes, seeing how close I could get before it would dive back under. In the middle of this, one of my co-workers arrived. As I was intently gazing into a rather filthy ditch, he was curious and came to investigate. Much more familiar with the Alaskan wildlife (especially those he could hunt), Sam identified the critter as a muskrat. I felt a little better about my general nerdiness when he thought it was cool, too. He hadn't seen one before either... at least, not one quite so alive!
After he went in, I hung around for a bit longer, unable to let go of the moment. The sun had begun peeking over the horizon, and the light was dripping off the ice. The muskrat finally became so used to me that I was able to get about a foot away from it. We seemed to call it good at the same time. S/he took off for a nice little shelf under the ice while my fingers were turning an unattractive (and uncomfortable) shade of blue!
What a lovely way to start the day!
Isn't s/he so cute? Better watch out, otherwise some kid will make sure you end up on the menu tonight!
