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An Urban Weasel

WHAT’S BETTER THAN AN “ELF ON THE SHELF”? HOW ABOUT AN “ERMINE EATING YOUR VERMIN.” Orangeville residents Kirsten and Carmen Plester have a weasel living in their garage. Kirsten managed to photograph the very curious and seemingly unafraid weasel with her cell phone. The Plesters suspect that this little carnivore has been feeding on mice and Chipmunks. They’re hoping to get another look at it in order to determine whether it is a Long-tailed Weasel, a Short-tailed Weasel or a Least Weasel.  It was surprising to find that the best sources of information about these three species of weasel was from websites geared towards fur trappers such as this http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/…/wildlife/trapping/docs/weasel.pdf and http://www.furmanagers.com/#!weasel/czxh FYI: In a 2012 article on Least Weasels by Gilbert PROULX in Canadian Wildlife and Biology Management said “The Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis) is the smallest carnivore of Canada….no ecological studies were conducted on this species….The absence of… Read more »

A Naturalist in the Maritimes

It’s a large world; it’s a small world; it’s a diverse world; it’s a connected world. We’re a third of our way through our tour of the eastern provinces, presently staying in Nova Scotia with friends from university and before. Turns out that “D” was the statistics advisor to Troy Macmillan, whom you might remember as our lichen speaker and field trip guide from several years back. It’s a small interwoven world! We’re staying with “D&L” at their cottage on a lake in the interior of Nova Scotia. We could be on any Algonquin area lake, with rich brown humus-y water, Common Loons, Lake Trout, Ospreys and Poison Ivy. But something is subtly and significantly different. Red Maples predominate, not Sugar Maples which are rare. There’s Grey Birch as well as the more familiar Silver and Yellow species. The American Beechs almost all have fungal infection that makes their mature bark… Read more »

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