Common mink

Common mink Mustela vison mink

Around two feet in length, mink weigh only 2-3.5 pounds (Virginia DWR).While on the hunt, these lithe predators patrol the banks of the Shenandoah or dive below its surface. During many years of observations, I’ve yet to see more than one mink at a time.

Mink are predators of muskrats (Virginia DWR). Once, while watching a muskrat family out foraging and grooming next to a beaver lodge, I saw a mink stealthily wend its way through the logs. Every so often, the muskrats would catch sight of it and dive underwater, but then would quickly return.

Bright, curious, and fierce, a mink looks out from a muskrat hole.

Looking somewhat bedraggled after emerging from the water, a mink poses on a submerged rock in the North Fork of the Shenandoah

On the hunt, an American mink patrols the edges of the river, periodically diving under the surface to look for prey.

After diving for prey, a mink emerges with a meal of fish.

In the shelter of a low water bridge, a mink grooms itself in a patch of sun.

A beaver lodge provides shelter for muskrats and also draws in a curious mink (a potential muskrat predator).

A mink makes its way down an abandoned railroad right-of-way close to the confluence the North Fork of Shenandoah River

Mink on trail cam at Heron Cove, Broadway Virginia