Out bursts the mink (female or male I’m not sure) from its den in a riverbank. The first thing it does is scan and sniff, likely surveying for danger. Finding none, the mink hurls itself toward the water, becoming briefly airborne.
Reaching the edge of an ice shelf, cold inky black liquid looming beyond, the mink pauses. Is it scouting again for danger or hesitating to plunge into ice-water? Both, or neither? Only the mink knows.
The chocolate-colored member of the weasel family decides it’s going in. I watch it swim across about thirty feet of open water, heading for a shelf of ice on the far shore.
Emerging from liquid water onto solid, the mink shakes. Water scatters in all directions. The animal fluffs its coat. Then it pauses to have a look at the photographer sitting nearby. The photographer tries not to twitch. The mink seems to decide he poses no threat. It turns and begins peering into the water, looking, I suspect, for light flashing off of fish scales.
Suddenly the mink propels itself forward. With a plunk it is gone. I count. Ten seconds, twenty, thirty, forty, forty-five. Up pops the mink. It’s got something in its mouth. Only later when I study the photos do I see that its catch this time is a rock bass. Earlier it caught a small sucker.
The mink labors toward the ice shelf along the far shore. A strong current pushes the animal downstream, away from its den. It zigs and zags, making course adjustments so that it can exit the river close to the mouth of its den. Reaching ice, it hurtles up and out and forward, flinging globs of water. The animal moves so fast I can hardly make sense of its movements. In a few bounds it has closed the distance between the river and the den opening and disappeared inside.
What the mink is doing in its hiding place I can’t say. This is early January. It’s likely too early for the animal to be feeding young. I’m guessing the mink is simply dining in private, away from the prying eyes of passing hawks, eagles, owls, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, mail carriers, UPS couriers, and photographers. Eating the fish out in the open would be risky. About five minutes pass. The mink emerges again. It bounds to the water’s edge and starts the sequence anew.
