Another video here, which makes this the [insert accurate count here] one for the year – it looks like I’m branching out into videography more than a little bit. And yes, more of the same subjects, but listen: I’ve spent very long periods of time featuring insects and spiders and lizards and worse, so at least we’re dealing with something cute right now.
Semi-routinely, when we go down after dark to distribute corn for the morning duck frenzy, at least two nutrias are around, and amusingly, it’s at least one of the bebbies that comes up immediately upon hearing (or seeing, or smelling) the corn hit the pond edge – I have another clip that will show here eventually, when I have more of the night video to compile. Meanwhile, one of the stills, timed for the duck in the background:
What we find curious is how little the adults seem to guide the behavior of the chillun. While any adults tend to maintain a distance as we’re near the pond edge or when we make any noise at all, at least two of the juveniles will boldly come up, though they can’t really see us in the headlamps’ glare, and start feeding onshore within five meters of us, sometimes even while we converse quietly. Which is weird, because I’ve spooked them by moving my arms and creating the faintest of noises from the nylon jacket rubbing against itself, but talking seems to bother them less. Go figure.
And one of the stills that I got between clips, as the fourth juvenile comes ashore in the gap between the others. There is definitely one of them that seems much more wary than the others, and perhaps a tad smaller – that part’s hard to tell. Are these all the same litter? Not sure – they don’t dependably appear together at all, and in fact, it was a week or more before we were sure there were more than two. It’s also rare that both adults appear together. We’re still piecing together the observations as we go.