Our large population of rabbits has brought more then Lynx and coyotes. This little guy is a pine Martin and he is here for the rabbits as well. He is in the weasel family so a nasty little scrapper. The dogs treed this little guy in. The trees at the top of the driveway, I was having my morning tea in my chair and I heard a ruckus and then saw this brown critter scoot up the tree. We got the dogs inside then had a photo shoot. We got many very good shots of him before we backed off and he scooted off into a thicket that is heavily populated with bunnies. He was super cute!! We are saving the best photos for painting. He was larger then a ferret but had the long sleek body and big tail. Later that day an ermin came out from behind the cold storage building and headed to the house… Probably mouse hunting! Go for it little buddy! Mini and I both saw him from the front window and off she went. There was about 3″ of fresh snow and she went back over his trail sticking her nose right down inside every divot he made. Big excitement, this kept the dogs busy for the next week.
Then the day we were installing the Taco sign, I was walking over to the studio and just past the shop I saw one scoot across the road in front of me (on the old road on our property, not on the highway). He was long gone by the time I got there so I took a photo of his tracks cause they were so perfect.
