White Mink Sighting

[TobiasTicetonyk]

A friend and I spotted a small white mink while bushwhacking on January 10th, 2012. It was at ~3400' amsl in the transition zone between yellow birch and beech dominated overstory and red spruce/ balsam fir dominated overstory, particularly in a thicket of balsam fir saplings. The mink is living (well, hiding at the time) in tiny caves formed by glacier erratics. We were taking a break in the ledges in this area, when I turned around to see this curious critter checking me out. When I first turned around, it scurried away too quickly for a picture. I kept the camera out waiting for a few more moments and it slowly and cautiously emerged for another look at me before hiding again. I'm probably the first human it has seen, as this area is very remote and out of the way from normal bushwhacking routes. There were also black bear tracks frozen in the snow, leading to the summit of the mountain. I did not know black bears wandered up this high to the spruce/fir summits. One very exploratory and navigation oriented bear. Mink is first photo, bear track is second.

Download and zoom into the mink picture to see its full glory. I think this is a rare sighting.





Black bear tracks:



While I have you here, I really like this picture:


This is the kind of terrain the mink lives in- the mink was actually located in the area in the upper right of the shot where there are conifers

[TobiasTicetonyk]

Various party poopers are informing me that this is an ermine.

[mike]

WOW! Awesome picture! Great work!

I saw one this summer in the ADK's. I was sitting down on a rock. Next to me was a crack in the rock. When I looked down into the crack I could see the two eyes. It then started to hiss at me. I decided to move on at that point.

Yes, it is a stout. In the summer it has a brown coat with a white underbelly. Stout's have a black tipped tail. In the Winter they call it an Ermine. In the Winter they have a complete white coat. But yeah, it does look like a mink. They are both very similar looking. The black tipped tail is what people use to distinguish the species.

I have to tell you that this is a pretty rare sighting.

Have you considered hiking with us sometime? We too go to some of the rare and great places in the Catskills.

[bikenhike]

Various party poopers are informing me that this is an ermine.

Uh-oh, looks like the ADK gods are out annoying people again.

Never seen one before. Cute little fellow. Lucky to get one photographed. Cool bear print.