A short stretch of road near home passes through a series of small ponds where I recently was able to photograph a mink and a pair of muskrats. The mink appears to be using a small cave in a peninsula in a tiny pond as it temporary home. I spotted him there two different days and each time got a few photos before he retreated inside. Here is the most recent encounter—a photo I made from inside my car just before he disappeared inside the cavity behind him.
I waited in vain for the mink to reappear, sitting on the ground by the side of the pond with my camera on a very low tripod and aimed at the “lodge”. But I got cold and bored so I got my car and parked it as far off the road as possible near the pond. However the bank down to the pond was near the road and steep so I could only get my car about half way off the road. And of course I was on the wrong side of the road since I wanted to photograph out the window from the drivers seat should the mink return. I turned my flashers on and read the morning newspaper waiting and waiting.
A car that stopped next to me in the middle of the road caught my attention. I lowered the window and explained to a very friendly Hanover police officer what I was doing. He stated, “I was going to tell you to move your car, but I realize how cold it is so just be careful no one hits you”. I thanked him not really sure how I could be more careful that no one hit me without moving.
Eventually I drove the short distance to the much larger, but still small, Norman Laramie Pond, named in honor of a person who lived nearby and loved this roadside pond. To my surprise and delight a pair of muskrats were in the pond not far from the road. I used my car as a blind and got some photos.
Yesterday Jann and I walked the road hoping to see the mink or muskrats. It was a cold and snowy day but with minimal accumulation. As we approached Laramie Pond, a muskrat was also walking along the road—toward us. When we got close it veered off the road onto the ice of a tiny pond and buried its head in a clump of vegetation not far from shore. Its back end and tail were clearly visible. I guess it figured that if it couldn’t see us we couldn’t see it.
We continued our walk. On our return trip we again saw the muskrat on the road ahead of us continuing its half mile trek from Laramie Pond to the “mink pond”. Here is a montage of two photos of it making its way hurriedly down the road. There was only one muskrat, but the one was on a mission. It sure appeared to know where it was heading even if it foolishly took the “highway”.
As it approached its destination we heard, then saw, a large oil truck coming down the road behind us. I motioned for the driver to slow down and he did. This gave the muskrat just enough time to reach the tiny pond and dart off the road.
When we reached the pond the muskrat was still at the spot where it entered the pond. He took one look at me and disappeared under the ice. The ice was so thin that I could follow its “shadow” as it swam, amazingly rapidly. Although the pond is narrow, it is fairly long and the muskrat made it the whole length before it surfaced. Here are the only photos I was able to get at each end of the pond.
Each time it saw me it quickly disappeared under the ice. I walked to an open spot near the middle of the pond’s length and hid behind a small tree. I got lucky and this is the result looking almost straight down at it.
We got back to our car and parked it halfway off the road near the pond. A car makes a great blind. The muskrat was at the far side of the pond feeding, but now it completely ignored us. I used a longer lens from my car and made this final photo.
