As I write this in early December, we are finally getting a decent dump of snow, but before this, I was hearing of many sightings of ‘ermine’ crossing trails and roads. I even had a small one, resplendent in its white robes, cross in front of my car yesterday. Normally people do not see them because they are camouflaged against the snow and, in their brown coats, are quite inconspicuous in summertime. But we do have lots of them around.
The ’ermine’ strictly speaking is the short-tailed weasel (Mustela erminea) which, of the three weasels seen in B.C., is more medium-sized and has a distinctive black tip at the end of its tail (and even in its summer pelage). It is the most widely spread and abundant of the three species and found throughout B.C.
Its winter coat is highly prized by First Nations as decoration for headdresses and ceremonial clothing. In Europe, winter skins were once reserved for use only by royalty and clergy, but now other ‘high’ officials even in Canada wear clothing decorated with the skins.
The other weasel that is sometimes called an ‘ermine’ in its winter dress is the tiny least weasel (Mustela nivalis). These fierce predators are so cute, around 16-18 cm in total length including their relatively short tails, completely white in winter except for a few black hairs.
Once, on my way to Houston, as the snow was swirling across the highway, I saw what looked like a larger clump of snow rolling across in front of me until I realized it was a least weasel.
The third species is the long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata) which is rarely, if ever seen north of Prince George or west of the Rockies and as far as is known there are no records of it in northwest B.C. It does not have a black tip on its tail in winter pelage so it can be distinguished from the short-tailed and is much larger than the least weasel. It tends to be the largest of the three species.
They may be small and cute, but they are fierce predators with a very nasty bite. They prey on voles, lemmings, mice, chipmunks, squirrels, birds, and frogs, etc. In winter, they hunt under the snow, using space underneath downed logs and log piles for hunting runways and winter shelter.
The least and short-tailed weasels are very curious and seemingly tame. If you see tracks, try sitting or standing quietly near a wood pile or downed logs. They will often emerge to see who you are. Once, as we sat in the sun on a beach at Coldfish Lake in Spatsizi, a short-tailed weasel joined us and almost seemed like it was playing hide-and-seek with us and approached us quite closely.