It's officially the first day of spring, and a lot is happening outside. The full moon was beautiful last night, looking mysterious through misty clouds.
This morning we saw the first robin on the property, doing just what robins do--hopping about, looking for worms. And two muskrats were very busy in the shallows, eating all the fresh greens they could find.
A couple of hours later, we saw the mink! This is the longest mink sighting we've had. It was running along the beach, then running on what is left of the ice on the pond, then swimming, then out again, all the while sniffing, sniffing, looking for (I presume) baby muskrats. It sniffed all around last year's and this year's muskrat houses and the shallows where they like to feed.
This mink has been in a fight. It has a wound or scar on the left side of the neck below the ear. I saw it run along the top of the tree that fell down last fall, then dive into it. A moment later, it came speeding out, with another mink in chase! Imagine, two of them! I was amazed. They ran either into or behind a big brush pile we created last year. I felt very vindicated; following the advice to leave fallen trees and create brushpiles for wildlife has really paid off.
Later we saw scar-neck out again, running along the bank and sniffing. Then he dove into a hole in the west bank of the pond, and I didn't see him emerge. So maybe the mink have a home here, too. We are thrilled!
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