Discussion: Love the mink!

What a great photo! Was that in the area you took me birding a little while back?

Yup, same place. Didn't know what it was until I show the picture to Gail and she knew.

To me, that looks more like a river otter? (I don't think I've ever seen a mink)

I suspect otter as well. Minks tend to be slimmer and less inclined to be in the water...

We stand corrected:-)

Certainly looks like an otter, but then I don't think I've ever seen a mink. But now that I've seen the otter vs. mink site it certainly makes sense. What I have seen at Ratlum 3 times is a dead least weasel. Not sure how it died and why nobody ate it, but I've had three all in probably the last 5 or 6 years, too in the yard and one on a trail in the woods. All in pretty good shape as dead things go.

That's are certain parts of life where there is an upside to making mistakes, that you learn something. And maybe even never making that mistake again. Such as in ID'ing a variety of wild critters. I guess I still haven't seen a mink, but I have a much better idea of what river otters are. And so today, when I saw two critters swimming across a pond right next to the pond where the "mink" photo was taken, and all I could see was part of the heads and a bit of tail, I was sure it was a pair of otters.

Of course there are also parts of life where this doesn't seem to work, where you make the same mistake over and over. Like orienteering, it seems. Is that what keeps it interesting after all these years?

I've seen mink on the Crandalls map a couple times - near a small stream but primarily upland habitat. Way out on the west end where courses rarely go because its boxed in and creates a major dogleg.

Seen river otters a number of times around the country, but locally only once in the small stream that feeds Shenipsit Lake and runs along the dirt road that I frequent on runs from the house.

When I lived in Sweden the second time, I used to run down a forest path past a mink farm. I don't remember seeing any mink, but I do remember that they *stank,* bigly.

I had only seen river otters at the zoo until a few months ago, and I saw pair on the Columbia River near my in-laws' vacation house in central WA. It was very cool. I knew there were a few beavers around there, but I didn't expect to see otters!

Apparently, the suburb of Seattle in which I now reside, back before there was any development here, the area was known for mink farms.

We have a lakeside cabin in western Maine, where a solitary mink patrols the narrow area between the land and the water. I've only seen it a few times, but one time I thought it was a squirrel until it turned around and faced me. That one has a deep reddish brown coat, thick and velvety. Much smaller than an otter.

I never did come up with an ID for the mustelid I found dead on the side of the road a few years ago.

Here's some river otters I had crossing my driveway two years ago.