There is a place I drive by on my way home that is just swamp after swamp. I love it, cuz there are some Canadian Geese that nest there every year (two pair this year, and are the babies CUTE!).
This morning I noticed that the swamp grasses were growing right through even the deepest portions of the water. Usually, there is quite a bit of open water, and it looks just wrong for grass tips to be showing through.
My first thought was that the resident muskrats must have been hit by a car or something, and that hopefully a new one would move in soon before the swamp grass totally took over the open water.
On further reflection, though, I realised that when I was a kid the road in that area was flooded every spring. That hasn't happened in years. Not even close.
Now I am worried. I know that they have done some work on the roads down there to help with the flooding issue, but it just seems that the water isn't as high as it used to be. And that makes me think that maybe the reason the muskrats aren't there anymore is because the water is too shallow for them to overwinter. Then I start to get scared.
It is one thing to know in your head that Climate Change is real. It is totally another to see something that really brings home how different the landscape could be.
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