Thursday, June 17, 2010

Long-tailed Weasel - Juvenile

I had completed my walk of TRNWR and decided to stop off at the visitor center before I left. On my way back to the car, I decided to take one more look in the trees just to the south of the center. They've been active with House Finches lately, but I haven't been able to get any descent shots as they tended to stay up high in the trees, so I was hoping to get a better opportunity. This area is also fairly active with White-crowned Sparrows.
I was taking some pictures of White-crowned Sparrows when I noticed something scampering along the trail just ahead a bit. It turned out to be some Long-tailed Weasels and I soon discovered that they were juveniles. I'm guessing that there were about four of them. They were hiding in the grass just off the path and would scurry out in the open, sometimes one by one, sometimes in twos or threes. When more than one emerged, they were usually wrestling with each other, rolling around and jumping about.
Unfortunately they mostly stayed in some heavy shade and my lens wasn't fast enough to get nice crisp shots. Many of the shots of them playing were just brown blurs, but a few, when I caught them still, turned out well enough to post.
This was the first time I've seen weasels in the wild, so it was pretty exciting.

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