At Odds with the Mink

Hiding in plain sight may not be as crazy as it sounds. 

I'd implemented all of my usual tactics to hide my presence to get closer to the hooded mergansers, but the mergansers seemed to know exactly where I was regardless of how sneaky or well hidden I was.

Last year, when standing in shallow water, I'd noticed that the resident ducks, geese and the mink seemed to ignore me. So out I waded, being very careful not to get too close to the Canadian geese who were nesting on either side of me. They are very protective of their nests!

After 30 minutes of sitting motionless on a fallen tree, boots dangling in the water, the wildlife around me started to accept me as something that was just there. A male European starling performed in song and display just above me.

A male red-winged blackbird similarly took the time to sing as it searched for food around the edge of the water.

Then the mink appeared out of nowhere, as it does, and that drew the attention of the hooded mergansers.

The hooded mergansers focused on the mink, who appeared annoyed at the unwanted attention.

On went the mink on its usual route, stopping for a second when it noticed the strange lumpy thing sitting on the fallen tree.

Mink are curious creatures, and around it came to check me out.

The mink walked over the same fallen tree trunk that I had traversed to get partway to my location, and then it disappeared into the center cavity of that tree trunk that had rotted away. It stayed out of sight for a long time, and then I felt someone's eyes on my back. I turned around to see the little fellow looking out from the darkness.

The mink surveyed me and then its surroundings.

And off it bounded further down, to one of the many small islands that dot the water.

The mink seems to be able to find food wherever it goes. It dived out of sight and returned with a snack, gradually working its way around the Wetlands. 

A red-tailed hawk became curious either of the mink or of what the mink had found to eat. It landed close by the mink.

The hawk's curiosity drew the minks. The mink must have been aware that the hawk outmatched it in size and strength, but the mink was fearless. It sized the hawk up, looking for any weakness it could exploit and then attacked from below. 

The mink then repeatedly jumped at the hawk, teeth bared. The red-tailed hawk appeared startled by the surprise attack. Visibly rattled, it got out of there in a hurry.

The red-tailed hawk waited until the mink was long gone before returning to that small island to see just what the mink had been finding to eat.

The hawk then turned its attention to the nesting Canada Geese. The red-tailed hawk came to perch on the remains of a long-dead tree. The roots of that decomposing tree stump are the supporting structure for the island a female Canada goose had chosen as her nesting site.

The red-tailed hawk viewed the vacant nest, and the female goose responded. The female promptly returned, standing over her eggs with her wings held out in a display of strength. Her tongue extended with a hissed warning that it would be wise not to ignore.

The hawk had a change of heart. It swooped down from the tree stump and unnervingly headed straight for me before gliding to the side. It landed directly behind me. It came to rest on the same hollow log where I photographed the mink earlier. With my lens fully zoomed back, I took probably the sharpest and most detailed photos I'll ever take of a wild red-tailed hawk.

It was time for me to leave the red-tailed hawk to continue hunting without an audience, but that was an action-packed morning, and my tactic of hiding in plain sight turned out to be not so crazy after all.

Copyright © scottswildencounters.blogspot.com 2021 Scott Atkinson All Rights Reserved.