The Great White North. March,30,2011

A beautiful sunny and not to bad a day gave me the urge to go for a walk this morning. Not a lot going on around the neighbourhood bird wise. So I walked to the lakefront. Thought I would check on the ice. Well it was still there. But on the shoreline the ice was slowly melting and the water was sitting on top of the ice there. As I was about to leave I caught a sight of something dark out in the preasure crack. A mink was romping around out there. So I found a tree and parked myself behind it. Leaning on it to balance the camera. The mink was having a great time. Running in & out of the cracks. Appeared to be looking for a hole to go fishing through. Well closer to shore he found one and jumped in. Only a min. he was back. Shook himself off and went a few steps and lay down and rolled over and over. Having a grand time. Trying to dry himself off a wee bit. He came up empty on the fish. But no matter. He was on a mission. He stopped a couple of times to roll. All fours up in the air joined by a very fluffy tail once in a while. HE came in very close to me. I was very still and he never saw me. I followed as he ran along the icy shoreline back to his home. Some of these shots I swear look like the north pole,not a spring day. But I feel that soon we will have a bit of water and the ducks will start showing up . I heard the pileated woodpecker in the woods calling his heart out. A white breasted nuthatch and downy and hairy woodpeckers all pecking and chattering away. The sun actually had some warmth to it as I stood by the huge mounds of ice along the shoreline. The mink made it to his destination. And I did the trek home. Needless to say it was the most amazing morning and was so unexpected. A wonderful surprise. Timing is everything.