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Thursday, July 17, 2008

7.16- Neovison Vison (American Mink)



Here is one of two mink "kits" that hunt along the South Avenue breakwater... Actually, they are weened (saw one carrying a shore crab away to munch on), so I'm not sure they are "kits" anymore... juveniles anyway.

I used to see their momma last fall and over the winter, crawling among the rip-rap breakwater along the South Avenue waterfront near Lou-Mac park, which is where I shot these pictures today. The past few days I noticed what I thought was a single mink, guessing it was a youngster, so I took the camera today... I first realized there were two of them when they briefly left the rip-rap and ran about 20 feet down South Avenue before ducking back into the rocks.

Sometime soon I'll post some pictures of their momma that I took over the winter.

These two are noticeably smaller than momma, and they travel together hunting for edibles in the rip-rap, where there are plenty of crab, minnows, and bait dropped by fishers.

Adult mink are solitary animals, while the young will live together with momma for their first spring and summer and into the fall before going out on their own.

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