Winding up a run in the sodden, glistening Arb this afternoon, I was heading back toward campus along the river trail when I saw a cat-sized brown animal dart across the path ahead of me and up a dead tree. “Weird – a raccoon out at noon?”
I slowed down to look up at the animal, but then stopped when I saw that it had no mask. The little beastie nestled into a vee of two branches and peered down at me with a frank black-eyed look, clearly wishing I’d move along. I walked a couple steps to get a different angle. The creature had a wide, furry body and a long fuzzy tail – the size and shape of a raccoon, but a solid dark brown or black, rather than the grays and light browns of a raccoon. “Weird – a mink? a weasel?” I jogged off to let the whatever-it-was get back to whatever it was doing.
I wondered about the animal all day. When the girls went to bed, I paged therough my Mammals of Minnesota field guide and the Minnesota DNR’s excellent online guide and figured that – based on size, coloration, and the funny look of its eyes – it was a fisher, one of the rarest mammals in Minnesota, and much more common up north.
Fisher
7 responses so far ↓
1 Penny Hillemann // Mar 24, 2009 at 10:01 pm
That is amazing! What an experience to have.
Perhaps you’ve seen this, but here is a list of mammals more or less officially reported in the Arb:
http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/arb/species/fauna/mammals/
2 Luke S. // Mar 24, 2009 at 11:14 pm
We’ve got one of those that runs around near my house in MA. It stood by a tree and watched us unload groceries once…kind of unnerving.
3 Mary W W // Mar 24, 2009 at 11:37 pm
I can’t see the photo but it sounds like a great experience. Always enjoy your blog entries and the photos. Your daughters are so cute!
4 Mnmom // Mar 25, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Cool!
Remember that line we found in the website about animals in the arb – some being listed as “unverified” or mythical or some such language? Can’t find it now.
5 admin // Mar 25, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Mnmom, the list of animals is the one Penny links above, but the fisher isn’t on there. Yet! I’m talking to people…
6 Connie // Mar 25, 2009 at 4:29 pm
So cool! For a minute I thought that was your photo. Did you not have your camera with you? It seems like you always do. The MN Conservation Volunteer Mag just had a cover story about fishers.
7 admin // Mar 25, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Knowledgeable sources informed me today that I was probably wrong about the fisher sighting.
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