Brown Rats, in the "wild"

 

While shooting eagles at the Conowingo Dam in Maryland back on December 14 (2022), I noticed a glimmer of fur flash through the rock riprap behind me. Weasel? A minute later the suspect revealed itself: Brown Rat ("Norway" Rat, Rattus norvegicus). I (fortunately, I suppose) have next to no experience with this much loathed mammal and set about getting some shots. While it stayed mostly hidden in the rocks, I noticed it was working ever closer to my sandwich in a sealed container on a low wall. As I didn't think the rat could see that, I became curious as to their sense of smell. I took a small chunk of turkey from the sandwich and placed it high on a flat rock where I knew the rat couldn't see it. The mammal soon started circling ever closer to the turkey, staying mostly under cover. In about 3-4 minutes it had found the turkey atop the rock and ran up and took it.

A Brown Rat poses nicely for the camera. For the most part, they - I saw at least three - stayed well concealed amongst the rocks. I think that I was the only photographer there who noticed them. Apparently, the many fishermen who work this section of the Susquehanna River are in the habit of tossing "trash" fish (their terminology, not mine) into the rocks. The rats eventually discovered this food source and established an outpost here.

Say what you will about Brown Rats - and most of it will be unpleasant - but they are clever and adaptable mammals. The mammalian counterpart to House Sparrows. It's thought that their original native range was the region of northern China, but Brown Rats have gone nearly global by now. Just about everywhere people go, rats will follow, and they live nearly exclusively in our shadow.