Bonus Critter Bloogging

Today, Critter blogging is dedicated to Eight Bells.

And we're all missing Diane, hope all is going well with her. She said she'd let me know when she gets back, am anxiously waiting.

Picture of a marten taken in the Montreal area.

Barndog suggested I might want to post on them and fishers, see more below. They look cute and fuzzy, don't be fooled.

American martens are small, rare members of the weasel family. The American marten is sometimes referred to as a pine marten due to the similarities shared with their European pine marten relatives. Their fur is soft and thick, varying in color from pale buff or yellow to reddish or dark brown. The animals' throats are pale buff; their tails and legs are dark brown. Two vertical black lines run above the inner corners of their eyes. In winter, long hairs grow between the toe pads on the American martens' feet. These keep the feet warm and enable the animals to travel on snow.

American martens have long, bushy tails that are one-third of their total length. Like other species in the weasel family, they differ in size according to sex. The female is about three-fourths the size of the male.

Sometimes people confuse American martens with two other members of the weasel family that live in Wisconsin, fishers (Martes pennanti) and stone martens (Martes foina). Fishers live in similar habitat and have similar tracks. However, they're larger (females 20-27 inches, 4-8 pounds; males 30- 40 inches, 7-15 pounds) and darker than American martens. Stone martens are a species native to Europe and Asia. They escaped into southern Wisconsin in the early 1960s or 1970s, where they've established a breeding population. Stone martens are 23-31 inches long (including the tail), weigh 1-4.5 pounds and are pale gray to brown with a white throat patch.
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Little is known about the habits of American martens since they can be active at night and usually are very shy. Unlike most members of the weasel family, American martens (and fishers) are excellent climbers. They'll pursue prey, such as red squirrels or chipmunks, up a tree and may climb trees to avoid danger. Martens move across the ground in a zig-zag fashion, often followed by a series of jumps. They're solitary but curious animals.