We were looking primarily for birds to photograph but noticed this badger near a burrow that was apparently new as we hadn’t seen it before.\u00a0 As soon as I looked at it through my lens I could see it had prey, which at first\u00a0I assumed to be some kind of rodent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But\u00a0with a\u00a0slightly clearer view I could tell from the color and elongated body that it was actually a weasel (Long-tailed Weasel).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The badger came up on the dirt mound of the burrow…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n and then turned in the side light to give me my best look at the weasel.\u00a0 At this point the\u00a0 badger disappeared down the hole and since we were quite a ways from it and the light angle was bad…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I decided to drive closer, improve my lighting position, and see if the badger re-emerged.\u00a0 To my surprise, it did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It paid very little attention to the big truck with two clicking photographers inside as its attention seemed largely focused on something in the grasses near the burrow.\u00a0\u00a0 After a few minutes it disappeared down the burrow so we left the area to look for birds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n An\u00a0hour and a half later we returned to the area and\u00a0once again found the badger outside the burrow, which surprised me.\u00a0 This view gives a good look at the flattened body that badgers are known for.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And then it returned to the entrance hole once again.\u00a0 Here you can see that there were actually two burrow entrances – both fresh but the\u00a0darker one at the rear with more moist dirt was the most recently dug.\u00a0 I believe these “badger holes” to actually be burrows of prey\u00a0that had been dug out by the badger is it pursued them, which is\u00a0typical badger behavior.\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0either burrow had been the home “den” of the badger the dirt likely wouldn’t have been so freshly dug and the vicinity of the dirt\u00a0mounds would have been scattered with prey remnants\u00a0(bones and fur) and droppings.<\/p>\n Then suddenly another actor in the drama appeared in the grasses near the burrow…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n a second Long-tailed Weasel.\u00a0 You’ll notice that this one had a spot of blood on its right-front leg.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n By this time the badger had disappeared down one of the burrows and the gutsy little weasel came in to investigate.\u00a0 What happened next floored me!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The weasel actually went down the burrow (at lower left) that the badger had just entered!\u00a0 It disappeared down there for a few seconds but didn’t spend long in that dangerous tunnel…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n before it emerged and did some more exploring of the area around both burrow entrances.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then it scampered off into the nearby grasses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The badger came out once again and stared intently at the weasel as it popped in and out of the grasses.\u00a0 I tried to get a shot that included both critters but every time I clicked the shutter with my backed-off zoom the weasel was momentarily hidden in all the grass.\u00a0 The weasel is in there somewhere…<\/p>\n At this point the weasel left the area (we could see it scampering down the road behind us) and soon the badger surprised\u00a0me once again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It emerged from the rear entrance with another weasel!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"badger](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/badger-9974-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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