Muskrats carry a NatureServe S5 secure rank in Alabama, and the record here splits exactly evenly, 75 records apiece from iNaturalist and GBIF, an unusually balanced source mix for a semi-aquatic rodent that’s more often documented one way or the other in neighboring states. Dauphin Island’s 2 logged sightings sit at the edge of this species’ more typical freshwater marsh and pond habitat, worth noting as a coastal outlier rather than core range.
Records peak sharply in March (12 of the year’s monthly-tallied sightings), tracking early-spring breeding activity when muskrats are more visible building or repairing bank burrows and lodges before summer vegetation thickens and conceals their movements.
Full species profile
