If you’ve been keeping up with my puzzlers, you know that last week I talked about the coyote and showed a a photo of a coyote along with a mystery animal. Here it is in case you missed it. I considered just showing this one photo and seeing if anyone could guess, but in the end, that doesn’t seem fair so I’ve added some more photos below.
Here’s a story about the first time I ever saw this animal. One winter day I was sitting beside the mostly-frozen east branch of the Croton river in eastern New York State, waiting to see what I might see. I lived here for many years and winter was always my favorite season on the river because a whole world was open to me that any other time of the year, would have been impossible to access. In winter I could walk everywhere, and follow tracks. Everyday there were new tracks and I wondered what some of them were from. There was one animal that seemed to move at the edge of the river and forest. These tracks could always be found. Could I see the animal making them? I didn’t know, but figured it was worth a try. So I often got up before sunrise, dressed in many layers and walked down along the river to see what I could see.
One day I decided to find a spot beside the river to sit. I positioned myself beside a tree stump, sitting on the snowy ground with my camera and tripod in front of me.
After I’d been there a while I caught a movement off to my left side, something coming towards me. But I didn’t want to make any sudden movements and scare whatever it was, so I waited. And waited. And then the little animal came into my line of view! I was thrilled. I had never seen this mammal before… and gosh, what was it?
Here are some photos. It’s this week’s puzzler.
As always, use the comment box below to give your guess. Anyone who guesses correctly will be added to the drawing and eligible to win this quarters free prize–a sampler pack of my greeting cards. The more answers you guess correctly, the more chances you have to win. It’s that easy! Go for it!
Have a great weekend! See you again soon.
Ohhhh….it’s a mink I think! We saw them ocassionally where we lived up north. You don’t get a chance to see them very often, though. Very exciting.
Renee, Yes, you are right! I too saw them when I lived up north–during winter I saw them often on the ice or in the forest beside the river. They always seemed so inquisitive, peeking at me from behind the tree trunks. I suspect I would see them here more often if I spent a lot of time on the French Broad.
an otter…love them!
Colleen, Thanks for reading and for taking the time to guess. It is not an otter, though it is an animal related to the otter–a mink. It is easy to confuse the two at first glance.
It is clearly an otter with snow on its chin. It is very common for novices to confuse it with a mink. The otter is usually running and playing along a stream and a mink is always sitting and trying to think