The Waiting Is Over

OK...I made you wait and I don't think it killed anybody. Like I said yesterday, I was shooting some pictures of the usual suspects after giving up on the woodpeckers. Out of the corner of up eye I caught a white streak going from the brush pile to my mulch bin which is just full of leaves at this time.

I just caught a glimpse of the animal and my first thought was a white squirrel but the tail wasn't right. So I got in a better position and waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing happen, so I started watching birds again only to see the white streak again going back to the brush pile. Again, I didn't get a good look. So more waiting until finally another streak. Good thing I had the camera on burst mode because I only got two pictures in 10 feet to give you a idea of how fast the critter was. I saw that it was carrying something but couldn't tell what it was.

After running the pictures through the computer and cropping and then a Google search, I came up with the ID of a Ermine in it's winter coloring (white with a black tip on the tail). Common Names: Short-tailed Weasel, Stout, Royskatt. I may have seen a second one that had some brown on it and what it was carrying in it's mouth was a Sparrow which gives you a good size comparison.

More tomorrow.