Weasel

[csh...@bywordofmind.com]

I just saw a weasel of some kind on our back patio where most of bird feeders and water pans are located.  I've been seeing a very small mammal here for a couple of days and assumed it was one of the chipmunks, who we haven't had a confirmed sighting of for a couple of weeks.  Just now, this new creature was darting about long enough for me to recognize it as a definite weasel and not a chipmunk.  It was longer, lower to the ground and longer necked and tailed.  I 'almost' got my camera out in time - but, missed it as it finally darted away.  I'll keep trying... we're spending a good amount of time in the back room right now, watching recorded stages of the Tour de France, so I hope to get another opportunity for pictures.

Looking at the ODF site I see only the ermine (stoat) for our area. Another site mentioned short-tailed weasels.  I also looked up the long-tailed weasel which (per Wikipedia) seems not to get this far south.  We have a surplus of voles, mice, ground squirrels and gophers.  So this little fellow is welcome to them.  Just watched two Brush rabbits cavorting in the yard, hope I hope they manage to stay out of the way.  I suppose the chipmunks are pretty easy prey as well.

We don't have chickens yet, although our renters had them about 5&6 years ago.  This certainly means the chicken pen/coop will need to be much more robust.

Carma Henry, Logsdon Ridge

[Joel Geier]

Hi Carma,

Very cool sighting!

I found a road-killed Long-tailed Weasel along Buena Vista Rd. near Luckiamute State Natural Area a few years ago (the only one I've ever seen in my life), so they do occur in our region, though I think the Short-tailed Weasels are a little more common.

Joel

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From: "cshenry" <csh...@bywordofmind.com>
To: "Mid-Valley Nature" <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2021 8:02:48 PM
Subject: [MidValleyNature:6020] Weasel

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[Lisa Millbank]

Hi Carma,

That's really exciting, few people get a good look at those little weasels!  We have both the Long-tailed Weasel and the Short-tailed Weasel (Ermine) locally.  According to the book Land Mammals of Oregon, there are specimens of both from Benton County.

A new study has determined that the Short-tailed Weasels in North America are actually separate from the Eurasian one.  There's one species on Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands and one species across most of the continent, still called Short-tailed Weasel, or American Ermine.  I had no idea about that, so that was interesting to learn!

Lisa Millbank

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[Hendrik Herlyn]

Hi Carma,

Short-tailed Weasel is an alternate name for the Stout (or Ermine), Mustela erminea. The Long-tailed Weasel, Mustela frenata, is quite common in our area and is the weasel species I most frequently see around Corvallis (and elsewhere in OR). According to at least one book, the Short-tailed Weasel is mainly found in the mountainous areas (Coast Range, Cascades, Wallowas/Blue Mtns) in OR and is mainly absent from the Willamette Valley. But some of the range information is a little contradictory.

Tail length is a key field mark and is really obvious, and Long-tailed Weasels are noticeably larger than their short-tailed relatives.

Hope this helps. 

Happy weaseling! ;)

Hendrik

__________________________
Hendrik G. Herlyn
Corvallis, OR

"Nature is not a place to visit. It is home."
     -- Gary Snyder

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[Hendrik Herlyn]

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for the additional info! I had no idea that the ermine was split (although I'm not surprised - there's been a lot of that happening with mammals in recent years).

We really need an up-to-date mammal book for Oregon - there is so much confusing and downright misleading info out there, and some of the older books just don't cut it anymore, interesting as they are.

Cheers

Hendrik

__________________________
Hendrik G. Herlyn
Corvallis, OR

"Nature is not a place to visit. It is home."
     -- Gary Snyder

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mid-valley-nature/CAEVJLM5wdi5DA3Ar%3D6H52%2BCTUbgfDjHkAUHO8HPtgxppQRcxdw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Lisa Millbank]

Yes, there are probably more splits to come.  Reminds me that the Northern Flying Squirrel was also split recently.

This is from an article about the Ermine/Short-tailed Weasel research:

 

Analysis of this data pointed to the presence of three distinct species, with the Mustela erminea complex being divided into three proposed species: Mustela erminea from Eurasia (which includes 18 subspecies), Mustela richardsonii found in continental North America (with 13 subspecies), and Mustela haidarum from the Haida Gwaii Archipelago of British Columbia and Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska (three subspecies). Of the 34 subspecies, 12 still require additional study, according to the paper.

Lisa