Sunday, November 1, 2009

Mink, Raccoon, and Deer at Delaney

Dan writes:

I brought in one of my cameras after two weeks monitoring a narrow
channel in the Delaney wetlands. I had really hoped this channel was
being used by beaver and otter to take a shortcut between water bodies.
But so far all I've gotten are photos of raccoon, deer, and grey
squirrel. I did get one new visitor this time - looks like a mink to
me, but I suppose it could also be the tail end of a fisher. What do
you think?

at

4 comments:

  1. SusanNovember 2, 2009 at 7:56 AM

    Using that downed branch for scale, I like the mink theory for that first picture. Here's a photo I found where the tail looks similar - http:\\www.fotosearch.com/JNB006/145851/ - though I'm guessing a female (i.e., smallish) fisher's tail would look the same.

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  2. Janet PesaturoNovember 2, 2009 at 8:16 AM

    One way to find out would be to estimate tail length by measuring something, like a length of one of those fallen branches, next time you visit the site. My Peterson field guide says mink tails are shorter than 8 inches while fisher tails are longer than 12 inches. So no overlap.

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  3. DonnaNovember 2, 2009 at 9:17 AM

    I vote for the front end of a mink. All the other photos in that group show the animal coming toward the camera, not leaving.

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  4. SusanNovember 2, 2009 at 12:30 PM

    Donna, did you click on the photo to get a closer look?

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