Rat Tales

Christian had promised that I would post more pictures from the marsh at YLR.

I am usually running behind, but those of you that know me personally, have seen that I have been extra bad and behind this past month.  The start of the quarter, taking a class for the first time in two years, on something I know almost nothing about (RNA bioinformatics), and trying to wrap up the last figure and a half for a manuscript has left little time for more fun pursuits.

So here are a couple of quick pictures of a rat from Santa Cruz. I assume it is a dusky-footed woodrat, rather than an invasive rat, but it is hard to see a lot of fur on the tail in these images. The crop in image #2 does look a little hairy on the tail, a there are brief glimpses of a lighter under-belly.  Assuming my call is correct, these are our first N. fuscipes pictures on the homebrew. Rodents weren't really a target species on this set, but I will take them!  A bit of exploring led us to a much more accessible hemlock midden, so we will have to actually target woodrats in the preserve in the future.

Posing on the branch in the rain/fog.

Crop of above image. Looks like it may be a male with that bulge under the base of the tail.

Hidden a bit behind the branch

Crop of above image. That is a looooong tail.