Sable or Mink?

After taking care of the horses this morning I came back inside. It was 15 below zero with a pretty stiff wind.

Sitting around on a Saturday morning when it's too cold to go out puts me in a mood. I never know which mood until I try a few. First thing I did was write new lyrics to the tune of "Bad to the Bone".
I called it "Froze to the Bone".

That was after three cups of coffee.

Then we looked out at the bird feeder and something hairy was on it. I blinked a few times and thought I saw a Sable. A 1995 Mercury Sable.

No, not that one! This one!

I did! I did! I did saw a sable!
We usually call them Marten or Pine Marten around here, but it's the same critter. As it was -15F and windy I guess he was hungry for some suet. Of course he had to get into some contortions to get at it seeing as how he doesn't have a beak like a bird. He managed to get some, though. Here he is taking a break.

Maybe a second helping would be in order.

He gave up at that point and went down into the woods. We left the chickens in their coop because martens will kill chickens. I caught on in the act once and had to make it stop. The surviving chickens were too traumatized to go back in their coop and were later killed by another marten, but that was long ago.

I went to start reading a book and after a while something furry at the bird feeder caught my attention. I thought the marten was back. I was wrong.

This time it was a mink! A cousin of the marten from the Mustelidae family it is a bit smaller and more aquatic. We have ponds and a trout stream running about 150 feet from the house which would normally keep it fed, but it is getting toward the end of winter even though it is still a bit frigid. The water is a bit "thick" to swim in and is the Suet is an easier catch.

Of course, there are others who might like a bit if time on the feeder.

Minks are not as good at climbing as martens, so we watched it fall off the feeder into the snow a couple of times.

Note the snow on its back and tail, but it doesn't give up easily.

It still defends its "kill" against all comers.

Then it was full so it headed back toward the creek which has been frozen for a couple of months.

That was it for the daylight hours, but it did come back in the evening for a while. I thought about starting a collection with which to make a nice fur piece for the girls, but it might take a while. Then I though of the luxury I would feel if I used it as insulated underwear to keep things warm down in "manland". I am sure there are those who would ask why I had that smile on my face while walking around in the subzero cold. I would wait until they had a mouthful of coffee and tell them proudly, "I have a dead animal in my pants!"

 Happy Valentine's Day!