American Pine Marten 001

Until this week we hadn’t seen any sign of our resident pine martens for almost a year. I thought for sure something must have got them. While washing dishes this week I looked out the window and here one comes across the road. It is a good thing I had the camera close as he jumps up on one of the stumps in our flower garden.

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American Pine Marten 002

They have such a cute round face when looking straight at you.

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American Pine Marten 003

It is hard to get good photos of marten as like weasels they are constantly on the move. In the winter marten are active only about 4 to 5 hours a day so all that time they need to hunt. The rest of the day they are curled up under the snow conserving energy.

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Direct sunlight really shows their dark colors.

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This was my favorite photo from the few minutes he was here. It looks like he is posing but he is spinning around so I came close to missing the shot.

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American Pine Marten 006

Two days later the smaller female showed up.

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She is probably only two thirds the size of the male.

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She followed the same path that the male did so I don’t know if she was smelling him or not.

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