Danielle Putnam had a cute visitor recently and she said it was fairly friendly, too, letting her get within about a foot of it to snap these photos. It’s an Ermine, also called a Stout and are anywhere from 6.5” to almost 13” in length when full grown. They are brown in color during the summer, but turn white in the winter with a black tip of the tail both in summer and winter. They eat smaller sized mammals like mice and voles (a mole like critter, only larger, that eats plants and plays havoc with lawns), also rabbits and birds. They are skillful tree climbers and can travel down the trunk of a tree headfirst, like squirrels do. They move in a zigzag pattern and can travel more than nine miles a night to find food. They’re quite the adventurous little critter!

Speaking of adventurous... we join the Restless Viking, Chuck and Poppins, for an “end of summer” adventure at the Straits of Mackinac. Check out the navigation aid there that Chuck figures is probably 1000 years old, McGulpin Rock. For more info about the rock, click here: McGulpin Rock

Cute pix, but is ermine a vermin or is that to be determined?
And an interesting video, but a rock that is 1,000 years old?
I wonder if Capt. Paul would agree with that.

Hi
I don't think the ermine was "friendly" so much as
alert and fearless.

Alex, it's been determined that ermine eat vermin.

Isn't that critter also known as a Weasel?? I'd
call it that!

That is one cool Vid.

I wouldn't turn my back on an ermine! Or anything else in the weasel family.

McGulpin Rock is probably a glacial erratic. Which reminds me of the prior discussion about Hunter’s Point Park and if they ever responded to Capt Paul. Neither website has been updated as of yet.

What a cute little guy. I don't know much
about them, though. But I love the pictures.