Winter Coat - Summer Coat

[Doug L]

Mud Lake in West Ottawa is protected from the Ottawa River by a man-made berm about 8 metres high made primarily of sedimentary rock rubble. It has lots of shrubs and trees on top and is known locally as 'the Ridge'. Besides being a great spot for viewing migrating warblers, snapping turtles from Mud Lake lay there eggs there, and many insects, snakes and mammals make a home in the hillside - it's full of tiny holes and tunnels. One of my favourite dwellers to watch is a family of short-tailed weasels, though I haven't seen them recently. These two shots show the same (similar marks in the chewed up ear) critter in his / her? winter and summer fashions. When in winter apparell, they are called ermine. Both are taken with a 200mm F/4 lens.