Not a Mouse

The features that distinguish this vole from a mouse are quite evident — a stouter body, a shorter, hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, smaller ears and eyes -- according to Wikipedia.

It certainly wasn’t cow’rin or tim’rous, and there wasn’t a trace of panic in its breastie, to paraphrase Robbie Burns. In fact it was completely oblivious to my presence, and actually scuttled between my feet as I tried to track it with my camera. Not even the dogs being walked past on the Lake Padden trail had any effect. Strange behavior for a creature only 2inches/5cm long!

This photo is not as sharp as I would have liked. I took dozens of shots, but the combination of small size, almost non-stop movement, and low light levels defeated me. This photo is sharper, but the cuteness quotient is lower.

As C and I were walking back to the car, we met a group of young women who asked her to photograph them. She was happy to oblige and I'm sure she did a good job. I photographed her in the act, and was tempted to use it for my blip. Here it is in Flickr.