Just a few months ago I moved to a "floating home" on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. It's incredibly beautiful; though my own house is a "tender house" (read: small and rustic, originally not meant to be a full time home), the houses around me are generally grand with large floating gardens, and the moorage is sandwiched between two wildlife refuges.

I wasn't familiar with local river life before moving here. I saw ospreys, ducks, a lot of blue herons (they nest nearby), countless geese that stream overhead in that class "v" pattern, a beaver, and large carp. We also have frequent visits from raccoons, which come up from between the floats with little leathery hands, and scuttle in their unique hunched posture across the floats looking for food.

One day, I was walking down the dock and saw an otter swimming along the shore, just a few yards away. Well, it looked like an otter; but then I noticed it was a bit scruffy; its hair looked more coarse than an otter's. So I thought... is it a beaver? As the creative swam by, I looked for its tail... and it was a long, thick rat tail! I was then told that what I had seen was a "nutria," a river rat. These things are the size of small dog; significantly larger than a cat. I don't think they cause any sort of harm, and I have only seen one more since then... but what a surprise!