Thanks, Bill. That sounds like a very likely explanation!
Dan Logen
Stanwood

> >I was beside a marsh, with cattails and some open water, last weekend
near
> >Sequim. I heard a sound that I have never heard before. It was a fairly
> >high pitched squeeky sound, very similar to what you might hear in a
forest
> >when the wind causes two trees to rub together.


>Nutria or coypu from South America make a variety high pitched squeeks and
> mewing sounds when mating and/or tending their kits. Maybe you heard nutia
> noise.
>
> This aquatic mammal with a round and tapered rat-like tail( not like the
> laterally compresses tail of the muskrat) has become well established in
our
> lowland wetlands from individuals released by disenchanted nutria ranchers
> when their bubble burst in the early '60's during this fur raising scam.
>
> Nutria ranching followed on the heels of chinchilla ranching as another
> "get rich" scheme. Remember all the ads of lovely women sporting coats of
> the wonder fur from chinchillas. The fur was lustrous but fragile with
poor
> wearing qualities. Nutria fur never reached same level of promotional ads
> as did chinchilla coats and finally disappeared from the scene but not
> before nutria were touted to be eatable as toothsome as rabbit. This
failed
> as well and now we have another exotic inhabiting our wetlands.
>
> Bill
> William H. Lawrence PhD
> Centralia WA
> mail to: whl at localaccess.com
>