A Muskrat is Not a Fish

But don't tell those of the Catholic faith who live in Detroit.  A special dispensation there allows them to consume muskrat during Lent, when meat-eating is prohibited.  Because it is a water-dweller, the muskrat is considered to be in the same category as fish.  (And it's said to taste like duck.  Yum.)

These three photos were recently taken by motion-sensitive camera at the edge of a wetland.  The muskrat is seen with a mouthful of vegetation in all but one of the several pictures I got.  Hard to say if that's dinner, or something to line a birthing den.  From what I read, this is right around the time when muskrat kits are born.  Litters range from six to eight, and a healthy female has two or three litters a year.

Fungus Feast

This morning's interesting find...  At first we thought we'd disrupted a ladybug love-in, but now understand that we were witnessing fungus beetles dining on their namesake food - in this case, birch polypores.