A photo-hike to French’s Ledges in Meriden yesterday produced a wonderful surprise. The light was flat—the overcast sky was great for photography in the woods. The polypodies were glorious on the rocks. Here is a photo of a “polypody garden”.
As I returned to my car I spotted a white tail with a black tip just exposed near some rocks. I figured “cat” since there were houses not far away. But I waited until I could get a good view of the animal. When a curious face peeked over the rocks at me I immediately started photographing the “ermine”.
But upon studying my photos I have concluded that it was not a short-tailed weasel, a.k.a. ermine, but a long-tailed weasel. A photo, not included here, shows a tail nearly as long as its body. Here are two photos followed by a slide show of 4 more. You can see it’s coat has not yet turned its pure white for winter camouflage.
