strange critter id help

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forestgnome

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I saw an unfamiliar critter today, near Oliverian Brook. It was about the size of red squirrel, but a bit longer and skinnier. It was white and brown, with markings that looked like a beagel dog. It ran like a weasel or an ermine. What is it? Thanks!

happy trails :)
 
Sounds like a temporarily piebald ermine, aka short-tailed weasel, aka Mustela erminea, on its way to all white for the winter. (Martens don't change color, and I haven't heard of a piebald one before. Not impossible, but his cousin is a better bet for this one.)
 
This is a little diversion, but I was standing outside the Conway Cafe the other morning, and brown weasel ran across the bridge over Main Street towards Kearsarge Pond. He stopped traffic both ways. Nice.
 
forestgnome said:
It was about the size of red squirrel, but a bit longer and skinnier. It was white and brown, with markings that looked like a beagel dog. It ran like a weasel or an ermine.
Yes, if it walks like a weasel and quacks like a weasel it is probably a weasel. Sardog1 and NewHampshire were right on with the transition coat stuff including the Pine Marten no switch. My stepfather wanted me to learn how to hunt and trap when I was growing up since he and his family had to as a necessity when he was, the whole "we were happy to get an orange and new socks some years for Christmas growing up" stories. Gets my vote for the toughest pound for pound bada$$ in them ther woods. I remember once I caught a squirrel going after racoon near a wood pile area. Something had got to him while he was in the trap and the whole scene didn't make sense the way the evidence was left. So I reset the trap and put a lighter tension on the load and two days later found Mr Weasel waiting for me. It was so ferocious that it scared the crap out of me as a 15 yr old. :eek: I could tell it never thought twice about going after that squirrel and those things are claws and teeth with hair. Its neck was as thick as its whole body and the muscles were near rock hard even after it went to "sleep". :eek:
 
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Thanks everyone. I believe it was a female short-tailed weasel. I didn't know that females were so much smaller. That means that the ermine I saw last winter was definitely a male because it was much bigger. I'm wondering if it was a juvenile, but most animals are full size by November.

Still looking forward to my first pine marten.

New Hampshire, thanks for that link. It looks like it might be right up my alley, as long as it's not Alberta-specific. I'll check it out tonight.

happy trails :)
 
forestgnome said:
Still looking forward to my first pine marten.

With all the time you spend on your silent sylvan skulking, I'm slightly amazed to hear this. And a little bummed -- it tends to confirm concerns about the marten population in New England.

When I've seen them, it tends to be by catching them by surprise as they're hunting. Spend a little less time lookin' on the ground for sheds and more time looking for mustelids. ;)
 
sardog1 said:
With all the time you spend on your silent sylvan skulking, I'm slightly amazed to hear this. And a little bummed -- it tends to confirm concerns about the marten population in New England.

When I've seen them, it tends to be by catching them by surprise as they're hunting. Spend a little less time lookin' on the ground for sheds and more time looking for mustelids. ;)
If you want Pine Martens, come to the ADKs! They will steal food from your pack right out of the lean-tos! :eek:
 
Weasels

I agree that this was a short tailed weasel. Have never seen a Pine Marten, but I wonder if they may be confused with the more abundant Fisher? Also, I would venture the guess that the weasel crossing Main St. heading for Kearsarge Pond was actually a Mink.

KDT
 
Kevin said:
I agree that this was a short tailed weasel. Have never seen a Pine Marten, but I wonder if they may be confused with the more abundant Fisher? Also, I would venture the guess that the weasel crossing Main St. heading for Kearsarge Pond was actually a Mink.

KDT
I think all three of those statements are probably right. Mink usually hunt waterways and it was crossing a bridge and heading towards a pond. There fur is a real dark rich brown but the more the sun hits it the more it shines and appears lighter in color.
:)
 
sardog1 said:
With all the time you spend on your silent sylvan skulking, I'm slightly amazed to hear this. And a little bummed -- it tends to confirm concerns about the marten population in New England.

When I've seen them, it tends to be by catching them by surprise as they're hunting. Spend a little less time lookin' on the ground for sheds and more time looking for mustelids. ;)

bear claw marks
bearsignlivermoretrail.jpg


Ha! Well...I actually was hunting for sheds today on the eastern side of Mt. Kancamagus. I've heard that the big ones drop early. But I do look and listen for whatever I might see. I always look up for bears in beech trees like this one.

Are they usually in pine trees? Are the pine martens declining?
 
forestgnome said:
Are they usually in pine trees? Are the pine martens declining?
The one I saw was not. It was a birch. I believe they are called Pine Martins because they tend to feed on pine cones/nuts, etc.

I read a rather interesting article in the F&G magazine "Wildlife Journal" about the efforts of Fish and Game Biologists' efforts to help increase the low numbers. Its been quite a while since I read it, but I believe the gist was that they are not declining......but at the time of the article they were not increasing either. And their hope is to change that.

Brian
 
Martens are mostly carnivorous, with some fruit consumption as well. (No pine cones in the diet so far as I know, but they do hunt rodents that eat them.) The accepted formal name for ours is American Marten, Martes americana. The name "Pine Marten" actually applies to a European relative (maybe conspecific), but it is used occasionally here for ours as well. The Wisconsin DNR has published a good factsheet for the species.

Personally, I've usually seen them mostly around conifers, but I recently flushed one into an oak tree in a mixed forest. The species actually has a fairly wide range of suitable forest habitats.

They're currently listed by NH as threatened. The feds do not have an Endangered Species Act listing for them, so far as I know.
 
sardog1 said:
Martens are mostly carnivorous, with some fruit consumption as well. (No pine cones in the diet so far as I know, but they do hunt rodents that eat them.) The accepted formal name for ours is American Marten, Martes americana. The name "Pine Marten" actually applies to a European relative (maybe conspecific), but it is used occasionally here for ours as well. The Wisconsin DNR has published a good factsheet for the species.
D'oh, you right. For some reason I was thinking Red Squirrel when talking about Pine Martins. :eek:

My bad.

Brian
 
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