Swimming Bush?

[chinooktrail]

Geneva and I were on a walk looking for moose at Duck Pond in Heminway State Forest.

As we were standing on the shore I caught a glimpse of movement to my right.

I watched as a small bush went into the water and procedded to swim away from me for about 20 or 30 feet, and then climb back onto the shore.

I didn't see any signs of recent beaver activity, and figure a beaver would just slap it's tail really hard and scare us both. They don't seem very shy.

I asked a neighbor, and he mentioned he has seen a number of otters there at various times.

I didn't dare investigate too closely for what type of um, bush prints I would be seeing because I had Geneva with me.

When we returned yesterday we didn't see any evidence of swimming bushes, or any type of shrubbery or vegetation for that matter.

Any ideas what type of critter uses small bushes as camoflage to swim away from danger?

 

[brianW]

If it was a "woody" bush than my bet is it was a beaver. If it was more like reeds maybe muskrat. I have seen muskrats swimming with reeds while I was kayaking. Never heard of otter doing that.

 

[stopher]

Gotta agree with Brian. Wood = beaver, herbaceous = muskrat (or beaver). Duck Pond fequently has beaver; this is still dispersal time, so you might not see a lot of recent evidence.

 

[chinooktrail]

ok, maybe we will take a run up there at sunrise to see what tracks we can see.

I was starting to feel like I was part of a Monty Python skit...