The vast majority of my posts are about birds as they are the primary goal of my photography. But I also love other wildlife, including mammals, and when I run across other interesting vertebrates during my bird forays I try to photograph them. Such was the case two days ago.
1/640, f/4, ISO 800, 500 f/4, natural light
As we were photographing some owls we noticed this Long-tailed Weasel scurrying about on some old stacks of pipe (well casings?) laying on the ground. The lighting conditions were horrendous. I was shooting from very bright sunshine while the weasel was in deep shade which made it very difficult to lock focus onto this fast-moving creature. With with my teleconverter removed and shooting at f/4 and ISO 800 my shutter speed was still too slow for this twitchy little mustelid.
It seemed to be investigating the inside of the pipes for potential prey as it looked inside several of them.
1/800, f/4, ISO 800, 500 f/4, natural light
You can see how shallow my depth of field was with these settings and in this light – the tail is far from sharp.
1/640, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light
When the weasel moved to the far end of the pipe it was further away and there was slightly more light so I reattached my tc and got a few relatively sharp shots.
The colors of this very small carnivore have always appealed to me. In summer they’re mostly brown with creamy white/yellow ventrally but in winter they’re pure white, though they retain the black-tipped tail in both color phases. I’m always on the lookout for weasels but they’re very shy and I’ve only had a few opportunities with them.
These weasels are occasional cannibals which I’ve documented in two previous posts: “Long-tailed Weasel – Efficient Hunter and Cannibal” and “A Cannibalistic Long-tailed Weasel“.
This setting is far from natural but I’ll photograph a weasel no matter where I find it.
Ron
Hi Ron,
I just finished reading your latest post regarding long tailed weasels. Very interesting! I followed your link back to the cannibalistic weasel post and I wanted add a comment. I am not sure if it is better on this post, or on the older post. Please move if if you wish.
I don’t know anything about weasels, but we keep their close relative, ferrets, to hunt with our Harris’ hawks. If the rabbit goes into a hole in the ground, or more commonly, into a piece of oilfield pipe, we can send the ferret down to get it moving again.
Several years ago, when I was in college (yikes! that was 25 years ago!) I decided that I wanted to breed my jill (female) and raise a litter of kits. The owner of the male tried to warn me not to watch, but I was interested in anything related to ferret biology, so I stuck around. Ferret breeding is a violent business! The much larger hob (male) male grabbed my jill by the scruff of the neck neck and beat her head against the hardwood floor, furniture, or any other hard surface he could find. This continued for several minutes until she was completely unconscious after which time he drug her limp body around the room for several minutes before finding a quiet corner and copulating with her several times. Once she regained consciousness, the two carried on as though nothing unusual had happened. I am not usually squeamish, but I could never again breed one of my jills and started having them spayed. Natural or not, I didn’t have the stomach to watch that again! I have since learned that this behavior is normal and is typical of minks as well, but not skunks.
Why am I sharing this disturbing behavior with you? I got to wondering it the cannibalistic weasel in your earlier post had really killed one of its kin and was carrying it off to be eaten, or is it possible that the breeding habits of the weasel are similar to the ferret and this was a male that had knocked out a female and was dragging her off to breed with the unconscious body in a quiet location somewhere?
As I said, I know nothing about weasel biology, but it is an interesting question.
Thanks for the great pictures.
Mark
Absolutely fascinating stuff, Mark. I had no idea. Given how similar and closely related weasels and ferrets are I think it’s entirely possible that the behavior I photographed in those two older posts (links provided at the end of this post) may be a prelude to mating rather than to cannibalism.
I’ll add your comment as a “note” to the end of each of those posts.
Thanks very much, Mark.
I love the term ‘surplus killers’. I hadn’t come across it before, and is a perfect description of us among others.
And I love the weasel – such a deceptively ‘cuddly’ looking beast. Thank you.
You are one fortunate wildlife photographer Ron, to get the chance to not only see but to take such gorgeous images of a weasel. I must admit though at our new digs it will take some exploring to find places where I might run into one of these as well as other mammals and birds. Just have to deal with ALL the boxes that surround us at this point.
Great shots! Do you ever go to Black-footed Ferret country in eastern Montana?
Thanks, Dick. No, I’ve spent very little time in the eastern part of Montana. I’ve heard there are a few BF Ferrets in one place along the Utah/Colorado border, though.
Love the shots! They are indeed interesting and really cute!
Charlotte
Thank you, Charlotte.
I often read where you remove or attached the teleconverter in situations where light and time is critical and obviously in short supply. I have this vision of lens caps flying, both camera and lens being held in awkward, unconventional & at times precarious positions. You must be very adept in this procedure as you do it with such frequency and success.
Ha! You hit that nail on the head, Gary. When I have to switch out the tc in a hurry it’s pandemonium. When things go well it now only takes me about 3 – 4 seconds (after lots of practice) but occasionally things don’t go well and then the bad words just seem to flow out of my mouth. Don’t know where they come from…
PS: He has cute feet!!!
the little devil is pretty darned cute…though you’d never have heard me saying that when we had chickens…they were able to slip in through the smallest openings and commit complete mayhem with our poor hens. i like the contrasts in textures, between the hard, rough, industrial look of the rusty metal pipes and the soft, sleek look of the weasel…both man and weasel are killers. I also like the thin white edges of his ears and the “explosion” of black at the end of his tail. More great photo!
They’re what’s called “surplus killers”, Patty – often killing more than they can eat. One of the reasons for their bad reputation among poultry farmers. They used to get into our henhouse when I was a kid and the result wasn’t pretty.