Mink SpotSpot the Mink was happy today with a new treat that is better than bologna. Chicken fat. Spot gives me a good feeling because he seems to accept me and go about his work coming near me or whatever without concern. If I’m offering something good to eat, he’ll readily come. Otherwise, he has his own agenda. One of those is using his old labyrinth of tunnels under the snow. 
Mink Spot with ChickenThe picture shows him emerging from a passageway and giving a good view of his identifying marks.
The woodchuck looked like he wanted to tell me something but didn’t quite know how to say it.
I didn’t know if the lone redpoll who dared to stay and eat while a big herring gull stood quietly on one leg was brave, extra smart about gulls, or extra hungry. Redpolls are often unafraid of slow moving or still critters. If I stand still near their food, they even land on me. Such trust can be their downfall, though, as an observer in Ely saw with a flock of maybe a thousand redpolls. Although they fly away as a flock when a big bird swoops close, this observer saw a raven take a different approach. It stood very still in the redpolls’ feeding area and snatched several that dared to come close enough to get caught. It made the observer not like ravens.
 Woodchuck |
 Gull w/redpoll |
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center