Weasel Behavior

In the past couple of months, I’ve been lucky enough to spend time photographing two long-tailed weasels. On both occasions, I spotted them by chance and immediately stopped what I was doing to watch them. They had quite different facial markings but displayed precisely the same behavior, so I thought I’d document that as I try to understand them better.

I first noticed them popping their heads up from inside a burrow. Of course, I raced to take a photo in case they vanished, but patience was rewarded. I cautiously moved forward, getting as close as I thought necessary without scaring it, trying to send a message with body language that I wasn’t a threat, and sat down. Both weasels popped up again, gave me a look, and then disappeared. I was worried they were gone for good, but they both popped up from another hole, even closer to me. It seemed they were as curious about me as I was about them.

Once their curiosity was satisfied, or maybe they just got bored with me, they returned to what they were doing. They’d raise their head above ground, look in all directions, and carefully listen. I can only conclude they were trying to locate prey. When they went underground, they would appear a few seconds later at another burrow entrance and repeat the pattern. This would happen repeatedly until they’d eventually scamper at lightning speed across the ground and disappear into another network of burrows.

In the hour I spent with each weasel, they both worked an area intensely and then expanded their range. I didn’t see either catch anything, and it’s possible I was misreading the patterns, but it’s a lot of fun to watch and study. I hope I find another soon.