The large, heavy snowflakes were hypnotizing as they fell silently among the skeletons of agrimony and ironweed. Almost losing my balance and slipping into the freezing water, I snapped back to the business of hopping awkwardly between snow-covered grassy hummocks in the frozen marsh.
 |
Pausing to pull on my gloves, I
craned my neck as a small flock of
waxwings bobbed overhead,
keening in the wind. A small
movement in the grass ahead; I froze on the spot as I caught a flicker of brown in the brush. A longtailed
weasel, its white belly flashing
in the dim sunlight, leapt delicately
onto a prickly hummock, holding
one paw in the air as if to make fun
of my clumsy, overbalancing gait. Its
intense gaze was almost comical; its wide-open eyes giving it a surprised look as it eyed me up and down.
The alert little long-tailed weasel, Mustela frenata, belonged to the Mustelidae, the bold family that includes skunks, badgers, wolverines, mink, otter and ferrets. The beguiling big-eyed gaze of M. frenata is deceptive, for it is indeed a predator; the kind of predator that demands notice and respect for its efficient hunting methods and brassy behavior.
My ramble brought me through field
and marsh; typical habitat for longtailed
weasels. They are most often
seen in farmland, brushy fields and
hedgerows, usually near wet areas.
This glossy specimen stared fearlessly, despite its almost skinny
build. Weasels only weigh 250 - 500
grams and yet will take on larger
prey. I apparently posed no threat
because the brown and white
mottled animal continued
nonchalantly on its way, sniffing
around before easing into a thick
stand of dogwood.
 |
Each time I've been fortunate
enough to spot a weasel, they've
not seemed at all concerned with
my presence, an almost unsettling
clue to their confidence and
intelligence. That unerring, wideeyed
gaze is only initially cute, until
you realize their forward facing eyes
are typical of a predator. Their small
and pointy mouse-like face is set far
forward on a long skull. Their skulls,
like those of other mustelids, house a remarkably large brain—imbuing a
peculiar intelligence in such a
delicate-looking predator.
Mustela frenata live throughout the
United States and parts of Canada,
a range that tests their ability to
adapt to a wide variety of extremes.
Their frail build, however, is
deceptive, according to Bernd
Heinrich, author of Winter World. "They must contend with intense
cold throughout their range, yet
they are small, skinny and poorly
insulated with little body fat, all of
which facilitate rapid rates of heat
loss. To compensate, their resting
metabolism is twice that of other
animals their size. Yet they have
small stomachs and unlike their
cousins, the striped skunk, they put
on little body fat. As a result, they
have to eat more food per day than
any other winter-adapted animals."
The weasel I had seen fit quite
nicely among the close trunks of
dogwood as it searched for prey.
These bold predators consume a
wide variety in summer: birds,
eggs, insects, rodents and other
small mammals. In winter, their diet
turns to rodents and small
mammals almost exclusively.
It is their narrow, serpentine build
that makes long-tailed weasels
excellently designed as predators.
Their long, skinny body enables
them to follow small mammals and
quickly enter their tunnels and
burrows. Weasels are opportunistic.
They rarely fashion a den or nest of
their own; they simply use the living
quarters of their victims to eat, rest and even cache food. Much of their
time is spent eating and resting in
others' quarters before again setting
out to find more food.
