Critter report: a tiny predatory visitor

[sholio]

(People on FB have already seen some of these pictures, but there are more here.)

A pine marten (American marten) climbed all over the house yesterday in pursuit of our insulation squirrels. I haven't posted about the Squirrel Problem but it's been going on since last summer, when squirrels started stealing insulation one squirrel-sized chunk at a time, and have literally emptied some parts of our walls, the little jerks.

Anyway, yesterday Orion said, "There's something jumping around in the yard!"

I ran over and looked. Martens are basically large ferrets, and for a while we just watched it bounding around in the snow. I ran to get my camera eventually, but only got one picture because it was just so fast-moving and usually appeared in a bounce in between vanishing into the snow.



We also watched it climb a tree - straight up the bark - and then it was just hanging around on the tree, occasionally swishing its tail around excitedly like cats do.

But THEN it climbed up on the house and got right in the window and I got some great pictures.





I can't get over the giant feet; they're like big mittens, so oversized compared to the rest of it!









It zipped around on the deck a lot but moved way too fast for me to get any pictures of it (I'd usually have the camera pointed at where it was half a second ago) except when it got interested in the second level of the deck, probably because of squirrels, and stood up on its back legs. Orion calls this picture "nanobear."



It zipped up the ladder at supersonic speed and I lost sight of it.



I heard some rustling up there for a while afterwards, but never was quite sure where it went after that, or when it left.

I wish it good hunting.

Comments

[philomytha]

Biological pest control! I hope it deals with your squirrels, or at least makes them wary of coming back. And those are some incredible photos, right up on your windowledge, amazing!

[sholio]

I'm hoping the smell of it will help keep the squirrels away (and honestly considering how annoying they've been I don't begrudge it a few meals in the slightest >.>). And yes, I couldn't believe it jumped right up in the window like that! It even did it TWICE, the first time I was too shocked to take any pictures (and once I moved to get my camera, it jumped down right way) - but then it came BACK, and this time I was ready! I think it was really interested in that specific window area because the squirrels have been up there a lot trying to get to the bird feeder. >.>

[yhlee]

Whoaaaaa. :D

[sholio]

It was SUCH a cool experience! :D

[sushiflop]

it's CUUUUUUUUUUUUTE. What a very animalian animal.

[sholio]

SO VERY ANIMAL. It was the most mammal. Very much a thing you would find next to "mammal, most" in the dictionary. :D

[sovay]

(People on FB have already seen some of these pictures, but there are more here.)

The hardship, I might have to look at more marten pictures.

The picture tagged "marten windowsill" reminds me intensely of Autolycus, with the curve of the back and the inquisitive ears and the huge snowshoe feet. (The marten's tail is much brushier than the tail of the cat.)

[sholio]

The picture tagged "marten windowsill" reminds me intensely of Autolycus, with the curve of the back and the inquisitive ears and the huge snowshoe feet.

AWWWW. I hope they were pleasant memories. (It is a lovely view - I think that one is my favorite of all the pictures, along with the profile shot a little later on; it's just such a soft and evocative image.)

[sovay]

AWWWW. I hope they were pleasant memories.

Yes. We used to call him our little mustelid. He would sit like that on the other side of windows, looking out.

(It is a lovely view - I think that one is my favorite of all the pictures, along with the profile shot a little later on; it's just such a soft and evocative image.)

The picture of it meering up on its hind feet is very impressive! I had no idea they could do that.

[muccamukk]

Awww. What a cutie. If he actually gets in the house (here they get randomly obsessed with house breaking), you can grab them with fire fighting gloves and throw them out the window.

Do they not turn white in the winter?

[sholio]

That is excellent advice and we have some welding gloves that would be useful for the purpose. (My parents did have one in the house once, but they had been feeding it at the window and one time it just decided to ... go the other way. A good time was had by no one.)

Do they not turn white in the winter?

Their cousin ermines/weasels do! (We have those too; they are terribly cute.) But martens don't, as far as I know.

[muccamukk]

awww. I miss my little Ermine back home. boing boing boing i eat the mouse. So cute. They don't turn white this far south though.

[greenwoodside]

Wow, those are amazing pictures! What a great experience. When it stands on its hind legs, it looks half way to being Paddington Bear. (Sans blue coat and red hat).

Mustelids in the UK are mostly very shy.

I've seen an otter fishing in the Afon Angell in mid Wales and when I went out early one morning to visit a hill fort in the same region I think I saw a pine marten (too big to be a weasel, too low to the ground to be a cat).

Will obviously just have to move to Alaska.

[greenwoodside]

On bearishness, I see you've already got that far with 'nanobear' <3

[ysande]

He’s so CUTE! And that photo where he’s standing up, and all the photos with the snow and the woods - there’s something very Narnia-ish about it all

(Good luck with the squirrels, that sounds like some problem to have!)

[nineveh_uk]

Oh that is adorable! You did well to get any pictures of it, let alone such good ones. May it catch a couple of squirrels are deter the rest.

[black_bentley]

Cuuuuuuuuuute <333 Hopefully it'll deter the insulation stealing squirrels /o\ I especially love its big murder mittens, they're so out of proportion to the rest of it!

[trobadora]

Wow! Those are some fantastic pictures. It's so cute! And OMG, "nanobear". :D :D :D

Here's to it driving away the squirrels!

[goss]

So cute! I love the one with him on hind legs being all curious. What a great series of pics! <3

[lunabee34]

Martens are so cute! Thanks for sharing these.

[anna_wing]

How delightful! It actually reminds me very much of a red panda!

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=red+panda&atb=v385-1&iax=images&ia=images

[princessofgeeks]

Wow!

[pauraque]

Aww! Here we have fishers, and this is like a smaller, cuter version of that. I've never gotten such close looks at a fisher, though, just surprised mutual eye contact followed by fleeing into the woods. (The fisher, not me.)

[loligo]

So cool!!

[ambyr]

Adorable!

[wateroverstone]

That's amazing. Hope it helps with the squirrel problem.

[eglantiere]

omg what a crichur

[leesa_perrie]

Love the photos, such a cute little predator!! Let's hope the squirrels flee from his smell, and I wouldn't deny him a few meals either!

[slippery_fish]

Awww, it's cute.

[sheron]

LOL! The fact that the squirrels up there clearly discovered that they can insulate their "nests" with your heat insulation is somehow hilarious XD

And these pics are adorable! I love them. So fluffy! Highly recommend recording a video of this later, they're really fun to rewatch :D

[madripoor_rose]

So adorable, and good hunting to it!

[mecurtin]

WOW that is SO COOL! I've seen a fisher, at my parent's place in Connecticut (and very surprising it was), but never a marten. I hope it does a Mighty Hunter on the squirrels! I'm too much of a naturalist to be sentimental about the food chain, & frankly by not eating squirrel you're probably letting down your end of the ecological bargain, so more power to the marten.

Also, it's super adorable.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Wow! So cute! I wouldn't be calling it cute if it were hunting me, but from a safe distance, it's adorable!

[yalumesse]

That's adorable! I'm sorry about the Squirrel Problem, but if this is a consequence... I can't be too sorry. Hope it eats well :D

[silverflight8]

Omg it's an adorable predator. So fuzzy!

[lilacsigil]

This is so cute! I hope your squirrel problem is soon solved, but then you might not get to see more mustelid! What a delightful creature!

[ranalore]

Marten! Oh my goodness, I love its giant murder mittens, and that "nanobear" picture is phenomenal. It is much cuter than squirrels, imo, and I wish it good hunting.

[umadoshi]

So cute!!!

[timespirt]

How cute is that. Big paws and all.

[gwyn]

Oh wow! those are fantastic!

[delphi]

Oh wow, those are some fantastic pictures! I've only ever seen pine martens at a distance in the wild.

[vass]

Oh, wow. Thank you for sharing the photos.

[mikeda]

Nice photos!

Incidentally, I was boxing books for distribution at a local nonprofit and I happened to see one by a Laurie Lawlor. Any relation?

[sholio]

Nope, not that I know of! (Technically it's my husband's surname, but I don't think there's a relative called Laurie in his family either.)

[osprey_archer]

Aaaaaaah that's so cute! I want to pet it! Alas, I know that I would deeply regret attempting to pet it... I will admire respectfully from afar through your photos.

[lokifan]

What a cutie <3 Amazing pics! I hope the smell of it scares the squirrels.

[bironic]

Neat! And so cute.

[sophia_sol]

oh wow, that's so cool, thanks for sharing! what a gorgeous little critter!