Daffodils and Mink

The daffodils in the picture normally bloom a week after the early blooming daffodils. With the very cold late spring we had this year, they're both blooming the same week.

Little welcome dots of yellow here and there and all around the property to let us know it really is spring now.

I'm 90% sure we have a female mink reproducing in this hole. We saw the larger male running on the bank and swimming in the pond the last week in March.

He has moved on to another female and hasn't been seen since. Male mink do that. They're a member of the weasel family, famous for weaseling out of their obligations once the mating is over.

I've seen the female swimming and entering this hole several times since the male left.

So far my dog concerns have been unfounded. The female is wild, timid, and not inclined to show herself. I've only seen her from inside the house.

For those with enough pond knowledge to wonder if I've got mink mixed up with muskrat, I don't. We have muskrats, too. They're ugly and they look like rats.

The mink is pretty and graceful and looks like a small otter.

I'd love to get a picture, but I don't think it's going to happen.