One of the really cool things about my morning solo walks in the woods is that, given enough time, I will eventually observe forest life that no one else sees or even knows about. So, a few days ago, I bundled up and headed out when the temperature was hovering around 10 below zero. It was dead quiet as if everyone else had left for warmer climes. Suddenly, out of my peripheral vision, I became aware that something was moving. At first, I couldn’t find what it was. I froze in my tracks and silently scanned the creek below. Then it popped up from an opening in the snow—a little snow-white furry animal about the size of a squirrel. In a matter of seconds it was gone. Then it popped up from another hole about 4 feet away and so on, as it made its way down the mostly buried creek. I was so entertained that this little animal probably made its way a hundred feet down the creek before I grabbed my iPhone. The one and only photo that I got of this rapidly moving target is shown below right. The weasel can barely be made out against the snow in the center of the photo.
For extensive information on the White Weasels of Winter go to Jim Kauffman’s blog at allianceforthebay.org/2022/03/the-white-weasels-of-winter.
I quote segments from his blog:
“ …very few people actually get to observe weasels in the wild. And when encounters do occur, they are often brief, and glimpses are fleeting.
As winter approaches, many weasels shed their brown summer ‘pelage’ (fur or hair of a mammal) and develop an almost pure-white winter coat. As both predators and prey, this adaptation has served them well.
These species retain a small black patch at the tip of their tails. This is another adaptation to prevent predation by aerial predators. When a hawk or owl targets a weasel as prey, it often focuses on the black tail tip instead of the weasel’s vital areas. This creates a scenario where aerial predators are more likely to ‘miss’ a capture attempt when targeting a weasel.”
