When I walked out of my house the other day I saw an interesting looking bird with an orange crown, so I quickly grabbed my camera to take a photo. While I was following the bird, which turned out to be a Green-tailed Towhee, I saw a long-tailed weasel go into a hole leading under my house. They have this beautiful two-toned brown coat in the summer that turns totally white in winter except for the black tip on their tails. It re-emerged a minute later and ran up the rocky slope behind the house. Several minutes later, I saw it running back down the slope with something in its mouth, disappearing once again under the house. It was running very quickly, barely pausing to look at me or any other potential threats. Because it was moving so fast, it was challenging to frame it in the viewfinder and focus on it with the 500 mm lens I had on my camera. As a result, I couldn't tell what it had in its mouth, but I assumed it was a mouse or other small prey as weasels are fierce little carnivorous predators. I watched it go back and forth 3 times, each time with something in its mouth. It wasn't until I looked at the photos on my computer that I realized that "she" was moving her newborn kits from one den to a new one under my house. I saw her move at least three kits and they were clearly born very recently from the look of them. Bottom line is that I managed to get a few decent shots and now I have a family of long-tailed weasels living under my house.
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