Muskrats inhabit Rhode Island’s freshwater ponds, slow streams, and brackish marshes wherever emergent plants provide food and construction material. Trustom Pond and wetlands in Arcadia are strong places to look; Block Island’s ponds and marshes hold suitable habitat as well. A low dome of cut vegetation or a narrow wake heading straight across a cove may reveal one first.
Records occur year-round and rise from March through June. Visit near dawn or dusk, when muskrats are most likely to swim in the open, and look for the narrow, vertically flattened tail, an useful distinction from the broader profile and larger wake of a beaver.
Full species profile
