NFR Got any mammal pictures
- Thread starter Cabezon
- Start date
Non-fishing related
Billie Frank Jr. - Nisqually NWR, early-mid April. Mammals I: American mink. When I’m birding, I am listening to every sound, even the lightest rustle of dry leaves. I’m looking for any motion in my peripheral vision. Any little ripple in a canal draws my attention. I feel like an overweight hyperactive pointer or spaniel - total focus (just like when I’m flyfishing in a stream).
That intense focus has paid off on several recent visits to Nisqually NWR. My wife and I had reached just beyond the picnic area by the Twin Barns when I caught a ripple in the canal adjacent to the boardwalk. A quick look with my binocs showed that the ripple’s source was an American mink!!!
It climbed from the canal’s edge onto the moss-covered trunk of a downed big-leaf maple.
It moved along the trunk quickly as I tried to keep it in focus while clicking the shutter of my camera as fast as I could. It was really focused as it moved.
Fortunately, it paused on the trunk for a few seconds to do some quick grooming.
Look at the length of those front claws!!! Its fur is such a rich chocolate color. Then, the mink disappeared into a clump of dried big-leaf maple leaves that were caught in some branches. After a minute. it bounded out and disappeared down the bank of the canal. A first for me in at least 50 trips to Nisqually.
Steve
That intense focus has paid off on several recent visits to Nisqually NWR. My wife and I had reached just beyond the picnic area by the Twin Barns when I caught a ripple in the canal adjacent to the boardwalk. A quick look with my binocs showed that the ripple’s source was an American mink!!!
It climbed from the canal’s edge onto the moss-covered trunk of a downed big-leaf maple.
It moved along the trunk quickly as I tried to keep it in focus while clicking the shutter of my camera as fast as I could. It was really focused as it moved.
Fortunately, it paused on the trunk for a few seconds to do some quick grooming.
Look at the length of those front claws!!! Its fur is such a rich chocolate color. Then, the mink disappeared into a clump of dried big-leaf maple leaves that were caught in some branches. After a minute. it bounded out and disappeared down the bank of the canal. A first for me in at least 50 trips to Nisqually.
Steve
Billie Frank Jr. - Nisqually NWR, early-mid April. Mammals II: muskrat. I saw my first muskrats at Nisqually one day last summer; they were slurping down duckweed. This spring, I have been fortunate to see them (at least three separate individuals) on three trips.
The active individuals were gnawing on green cattail stems, just as you might expect.
Steve
The active individuals were gnawing on green cattail stems, just as you might expect.
Steve
Great photos! Back in Vermont I often shared two of my fishing spots with mink. They would swim and dive along eddy seams and come up with a meal and crunch it up. I'm pretty sure they were eating crayfish, but they might have caught fish, too.
This guy almost swam between my legs.
SF
SF
My midnight pee and his early breakfast were both unexpectedly interrupted
I ran into his relatives a few hours later
I ran into his relatives a few hours later
Sauk river yesterday. (I mistakenly put this in the cell phone pics… story for what it’s worth is there)
Just a couple marmots from the Alpine Lake Wilderness yesterday
healthy guys.
Gotta love marmots!
Parking lot...
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