Quote:
Originally Posted by Barney Bear
On East Bear Island, we have a resident mink family that has been in our breakwater for many years. We have seen muskrats swimming across Smith Cove on our way into Fay's Boat Yard.
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We have a mink-Mom with
six pups this season.
Our shoreline's bottom is littered with opened mussel shells and collected "up" on cross beams of the dock—where they dine. A glance at those mussel shells shows that mink use their teeth to break open a corner, and then pry the shells apart.
I won't say that mink are shy, but I've had them run behind my back as we shared the same 10-inch-wide wooden plank.
The muskrats I've seen here are much smaller than mink.
I watched as the mink-Mom made several trips out from the end of our dock, bringing back a fresh mussel to eat. Had it been a sunny day, the enlarged photo below would have been sharper, but here it is, anyway.