Sunday, August 24, 2008

Wood Rat Visitors

Sitting at my computer at 5:00 in the afternoon, I happened to glance out of the window and there were two, what I think are Stephen's Wood Rats, munching on the bird seed. I did manage to get my camera and take a few shots, but most of them were taken through the screen door.






































The most notable thing about these two are their very long tails -- about twice the length of their bodies or longer.
Two other things of interest are that it is apparently very rare to see them in the daytime, and the fact that they jumped about three feet to the nearest tree and scampered upwards to get lost in the branches and leaves above.

If any one knows anything more about these creatures I would really like to hear it. In the mean time I'm googling all the information I can.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What? No traps (humane or otherwise?) Surprised they sat long enough for photos - has to be a rare occurence for them!!!!

Jose said...

Ewwwww! Rats. I don't know about but rats would definitely not be invited to my party. lol

mrsnesbitt said...

Rats have such a bad press! We always praise Ella for catching a rat, yet get angry when she catches a field mouse. How does she know?

Shammickite said...

I had no idea rats would jump up to a bird feeder like that.
Thank you for your visit to my blog, yes, the Town Cryer is from Markham, Ontario. And you mentioned the church at Ringwood... yes, it's still there but has now been converted to a private house. I live about 2 km from the old Ringwood church.