¡Hola!,

It’s been a while since I posted; blame a hectic schedule with school, family, and work, i guess...

Needless to say I am looking forward to the semester ending next week so I can catch this migration before it comes and goes... I am enjoying the singing Phoebes, Chipping Sparrows, and Goldfinches which have made for nice escapes from long weekend days at my home office computer doing homework. 
 
Other notables which I have seen from my yard lately, include the return (a month ago) of our resident Ospreys, a few passing Bald Eagles, which I am certain have begun to nest in an adjacent cove (NB), at least 10 Great Blue Herons in my 1 acre cove, a Greater Yellowlegs which graced us with its presence on April 2, and as well as 3 Common Mergs on April 9 and 6 Hooded Mergs, daily since April 9. Also occasional Wood Ducks have come and gone.

RFI:
My cove used to full of beaver but the floods of Hurricane Isabel and the trappings of my neighbor across the cove took care of the population, I fear (I see the occasional beaver, but its not like it used to be). They seem, however to have been replaced by what I fear are Nutria. I am certain that I saw Nutria here two summers ago, as it was an adult beaver sized aquatic mammal with a long thin tail. Last summer I saw two similar mammals though they were smaller and appeared to be living in a muskrat-looking den built where the cove becomes flooded forest. These I assumed to be Muskrat. However, this spring, there seem to be at least 7 or 8 of these creatures of varying sizes ranging from muskrat size to beaver size. All of which have long thin tails. 
My request is for someone to please provide off-list guidance to me concerning muskrat/nutria identification?

Thanks,
Chris Starling
North East, MD