{"id":11893,"date":"2019-03-17T06:54:45","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T10:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/psnp.info\/p4td_\/?p=11893"},"modified":"2019-03-17T07:01:09","modified_gmt":"2019-03-17T11:01:09","slug":"dusky-footed-woodrat-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psnp.info\/p4td_\/?p=11893","title":{"rendered":"Dusky-footed Woodrat, San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sally, my daughter, and I found a couple of Dusky-footed Woodrats uncharacteristically out and about in daylight, feeding on flower petals along the path in Tecolote Canyon Nature Park in San Diego, California. She almost stepped on one right at the trail-edge while looking at birds. I managed to get this shot through the thick foliage. I know. It’s a rat, and many people have a thing about rats…but it is one of our few native rats, and an interesting creature. It builds large domed nests of sticks and litter (and sometimes adds a tree loft in a nearby tree), often in villages or hamlets of a dozen or more nests (perhaps the origin of its common name, Pack-rat, though it is a solitary creature in all other ways), stores food, builds a separate “toilet” faculty away from the nest, has soft fur and furry tail. I find it appealingly cute…certainly as cute as any gerbil or hamster. \ud83d\ude42 Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. 1\/250th @ f4 @ ISO 500. Processed in Polarr.<\/p>\n

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