u/EiresWind

There's video links of the muskrat foraging at the bottom of the post.

I'll try to be as concise but complete as I can on the scenario.

I documented this individual at Wilson's Marsh in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. It was foraging in dry vegetation maybe 3-4 meters from open marsh waters. Its behaviour seemed completely normal for a muskrat other than the unusual (to me) location. It noticed me (I was on a trail) at one point and gave me a wary pause before going back to foraging. It groomed and scratched itself for a while between bouts of feeding at one point. I left the scene before seeing if it returned to the water or any visible home.

Until reviewing the captures I had no idea it was injured (or deformed, or diseased, I can't identify the cause of maiming). Because I wasn't aiming to survey the animal's health, these are the best records I have. The wound seems old but I can't speak to that definitively. At the time of discovering this and posting this thread it's too late to go back and the weather tomorrow is prohibitive. I'm unfamiliar with local or nearby rescue or rehab operations if any exist as I haven't personally encountered a situation like this before. The marsh itself is maintained by Ducks Unlimited Canada.

I intend to look into any and everything relevant tomorrow (or Monday if contact availability is a problem on a Sunday) and reach out with this same information if possible just to play it safe with informed opinion. I also intend to return to the marsh and see if I can't document this individual again when weather permits (unobtrusively and at proper distance, obviously). I suppose another point of this thread is to ask whether I should actually bother doing any of this.

https://youtu.be/H_45R3ZNp_k

https://youtu.be/zanzo-j0EpA

I have never heard a crow trail off a traditional caw in this way before. It was cawing up a storm as crows do in-between these occasional interruptions, cleaning its beak on the branch and such. Earlier at another overlook it was following roughly the same pattern toward passerby on a foot trail. I happened across it this second time inadvertently and startled it off the edge of a brook before I doubled back to better distance, where it took a seed pod up to this branch then eventually lost interest and dropped it. It similarly seemed pretty uninterested in me and was more occupied by grooming. You know, just average crow things but with this mystery noise in the mix.

Sorry for the somewhat headache-inducing losses of focus, it was a bit of a needle thread from where I was situated.