Few have probably seen this animal.

[smokingman]

The dogs where going bonkers.I figure it was our fox(nightly visitor). The fox does not mind being watched as long as you stay 15 feet or so away.I grab the flashlight and investigate(armed of course we do live pretty deep in the forest bears ect..).

I see something I have never seen.Get my wife to come out and see it as well.We did not know what it was. Roughly a foot and a half long.Cute as a button.And apparently playing with a half dead mouse in our front yard.It hopped like a bunny,pounced like a cat,and had the cutest face of any wild animal I have ever seen.We watched it play with its captor for a good 30 minutes,before the fox showed up and scared it off.

I tried MANY times to get a decent picture.It was agile,fast,and crazy unpredictable in movement.
Here is the best picture I have.

It took a good while to finally id the critter.It was a Pine Marten.
Mammals of Minnesota: American Marten: Minnesota DNR

It is now my favorite up north animal.I hope he/she sticks around and kills some more mice

On a side note...does it look like an ewok crossed with a cat lol?

 

[Redskinsfan]

Neat-o! I love watching the wildlife and photographing them.

 

[Rayne]

Very Cool, Hope you get some better pictures of it someday. Do you have any of your nightly fox visitor?

 

[smokingman]

Very Cool, Hope you get some better pictures of it someday. Do you have any of your nightly fox visitor?

tons lol.

Some days she stops by well before dark,others she is running late.I think it depends on how well her hunting went.The den is near,you can smell it around 500 yards from the house.I have not found it yet though.

The fox scared the crap out of me one night.I was walking out of the garage at almost dusk.She was sitting maybe 4 foot from the door.Showed a few teeth.We scared the crap out of each other.I took a step back,then she did.I finished walking to the house and she just sat in front of the garage doors.15 feet and she is fine,does not run or anything.Apparently a neighbor of mine has a den so tame the grand kids feed the kits and parents by hand,and yes I think that is a terrible idea.

 

[smokingman]

She showed up very sleepy and was really slow one day.That was over a week ago,and she has seemed fine since.

 

[sullivmt2015]

very cool, you were right I had never seen that animal before. Definitely try to get some more pics of it if you see it again.

 

[smokingman]

here is a video of the same type of critter taken about 50 miles west of us.
After I though I made a positive ID i looked them up on youtube,yep this was the critter for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKl4fqInBeM


Watch this one,and you will see what I mean the hop like a bunny and pounce like a cat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IZAY-KOgfY&feature=player_embedded

 

[gunman41mag]

Never seen one, but I live in the city

 

[threefiftyfour]

and I get excited about the humming birds we get in our back yard...

 

[smokingman]

and I get excited about the humming birds we get in our back yard...

My wife names them.I think we had around 11 daily at one point,only 3-4 are left at this point though.
We have a few feeders up(humming bird).


If you have them,you know how tough it is to get a picture of 4 at once lol.(oops,there are 5 in that picture,note the tail hanging from the other side of the feeder)
They would rather fight for a feeder spot than share,but my wife took that picture a couple weeks ago.

 

[chuddly]

not to thread jack too much but at my shop we have a couple humming birds and they get stuck in my shop. They fly under the big overhead doors then see the lights on and think its the sun or something (stupid birds). and they will just fly up into the lights and ceiling until they have to sit and rest on one of the lights. They will do this for HOURS and HOURS if you let them. so we will switch off the lights and i grab the big push broom and kinda "scoop" them off the light so they stand on the bristles of my push broom. then if you move slow and steady you lower it down some and walk them outside. Then they fly off and are happy again....until a couple days go by and the do it all over again.

 

[gungirl65]

Awesome pics. It is so cool that you appreciate the wildlife instead of trying to destroy it.

 

[tsugaruroman]

The dogs where going bonkers.I figure it was our fox(nightly visitor). The fox does not mind being watched as long as you stay 15 feet or so away.I grab the flashlight and investigate(armed of course we do live pretty deep in the forest bears ect..).

I see something I have never seen.Get my wife to come out and see it as well.We did not know what it was. Roughly a foot and a half long.Cute as a button.And apparently playing with a half dead mouse in our front yard.It hopped like a bunny,pounced like a cat,and had the cutest face of any wild animal I have ever seen.We watched it play with its captor for a good 30 minutes,before the fox showed up and scared it off.

I tried MANY times to get a decent picture.It was agile,fast,and crazy unpredictable in movement.
Here is the best picture I have.

It took a good while to finally id the critter.It was a Pine Marten.
Mammals of Minnesota: American Marten: Minnesota DNR

It is now my favorite up north animal.I hope he/she sticks around and kills some more mice

On a side note...does it look like an ewok crossed with a cat lol?

I have seen those before back in Russa, it is a type of sable (or sable is a type of martin?) we use them for fur coats..... Expensive suckers...

 

[smokingman]

I have seen those before back in Russa, it is a type of sable (or sable is a type of martin?) we use them for fur coats..... Expensive suckers...

From Wikipedia
Sables greatly resemble pine martens in size appearance, but have more elongated heads, longer ears and proportionately shorter tails. Their skulls are similar to those of pine martens, but are larger and more robust with more arched zygomatic arches(cheeks).

They have and are used for fur here as well though.The ones visiting us hopefully live long full lives,eating all the damned mice lol

 

[MRP2003]

cool pics. It is great to see martens in Indiana. I would think they were plentiful decades ago. Hopefully they will increase and spread throughout IN

In PA, fishers have made a very strong comeback and are not uncommon to see.

 

[smokingman]

Awesome pics. It is so cool that you appreciate the wildlife instead of trying to destroy it.

I hope to do my part this year and kill a few deer.They spread a parasite that has decimated the moose population up here.It does not affect the deer very badly at all.There are a few good herds of deer that cross our property and you can not drive into town with out seeing at least 5 to 10.

Parasite I was talking about.
Moose Suffers From Cousin’s Parasite | Northern Woodlands Magazine

I will not destroy an animal just to kill it or for a trophy.Putting meat on the table,that is another matter

We are learning a great deal about the animals around us and love observing them.

 

[smokingman]

cool pics. It is great to see martens in Indiana. I would think they were plentiful decades ago. Hopefully they will increase and spread throughout IN

In PA, fishers have made a very strong comeback and are not uncommon to see.

Sorry,but this is not Indiana.We moved back in June to northern Minnesota from central Indiana.

 

[Rayne]

Nice pictures, that's for posting them. We have a fox den in the woods by our one farm. Unfortunately there are always a few of the kits hit on the road each spring. We also have a lot of coyotoes and that is putting stress on the fox in the area. I'd rather have the fox myself. We have minks, but never seen a pine marten. Beautiful animals.

 

[GLOCK1982]

Nice picture. Wish I was up north as well.

 

[mr buckman]

I thought the first pic was a mountain lion