Today was the last day of November and again I'd planned only to walk from 73rd Avenue to the bridge and back. But surprisingly when I got to the bridge, I noticed a Mink heading straight down the frozen creek towards me. I hadn't even had a chance to adjust my camera settings yet and here the Mink kept coming closer and closer. I froze there in my tracks on the bridge and shot a bunch of photos on burst mode, but with the wrong focus mode I learned later. To my amazement the Mink continued hopping towards me. He paused one time to eye me up but then continued on right underneath the bridge I was standing on!
Then I spotted him hop up underneath the new wooden bridge footings. He popped his head out quickly, I think to look at me and then went back underneath. I quickly backed off the bridge towards my side and jumped down underneath to find him sitting right there on the other end. I went to pull up my camera and he turned back the other way, now going back the exact same way he came down the creek. I shot more photos on burst mode, catching some neat photos of him in mid air, that were still unfortunately not quite focused well. Only minutes behind me on the trail was my friend and fellow birder Ron whom I quickly approached to tell of the Mink I'd just seen. Together we spotted the Mink again from the bridge and even a second one appear from an area of open water further down the creek. We decided to hike in for a closer look and ended up sitting on the grassy creek bank just like I'd done last week.
We spotted them a few more times but didn't get such a good photo opportunity as I did when I first stepped onto the bridge. A few times we could see one making it's way along the edge of the creek, weaving in and out of the tall grass. Then all of a sudden without warning it would launch out across the ice and run for the other side. This was when they were in plain view but also running the fastest. At one point we noticed a big Crow fly in it and kind of "dive bombed" the Mink. We watched with binoculars and it appeared that the Mink was watching for the Crow to come back.
As we inspected some of the area around the open water I noticed that there were obvious blood stains on the ice likely where the Mink have been eating fish. Then later as Ron and I hiked back, we spotted scat that had fish scales in it. The Mink sure have been active along the creek in recent weeks! Oh and as if this weren't fun enough, we also scared up a Great-horned Owl as we were first hiking down the creek to get closer to the Mink. This is the first Owl I've seen this season and it was a real treat to see on such a nice sunny day. After perching for just a short time the Owl took off again and flew almost right over where we'd seen the Mink. We wondered if he had been watching them too!
Then I spotted him hop up underneath the new wooden bridge footings. He popped his head out quickly, I think to look at me and then went back underneath. I quickly backed off the bridge towards my side and jumped down underneath to find him sitting right there on the other end. I went to pull up my camera and he turned back the other way, now going back the exact same way he came down the creek. I shot more photos on burst mode, catching some neat photos of him in mid air, that were still unfortunately not quite focused well. Only minutes behind me on the trail was my friend and fellow birder Ron whom I quickly approached to tell of the Mink I'd just seen. Together we spotted the Mink again from the bridge and even a second one appear from an area of open water further down the creek. We decided to hike in for a closer look and ended up sitting on the grassy creek bank just like I'd done last week. 
We spotted them a few more times but didn't get such a good photo opportunity as I did when I first stepped onto the bridge. A few times we could see one making it's way along the edge of the creek, weaving in and out of the tall grass. Then all of a sudden without warning it would launch out across the ice and run for the other side. This was when they were in plain view but also running the fastest. At one point we noticed a big Crow fly in it and kind of "dive bombed" the Mink. We watched with binoculars and it appeared that the Mink was watching for the Crow to come back. 
As we inspected some of the area around the open water I noticed that there were obvious blood stains on the ice likely where the Mink have been eating fish. Then later as Ron and I hiked back, we spotted scat that had fish scales in it. The Mink sure have been active along the creek in recent weeks! Oh and as if this weren't fun enough, we also scared up a Great-horned Owl as we were first hiking down the creek to get closer to the Mink. This is the first Owl I've seen this season and it was a real treat to see on such a nice sunny day. After perching for just a short time the Owl took off again and flew almost right over where we'd seen the Mink. We wondered if he had been watching them too!
No comments:
Post a Comment