Fooled

nature article Earl Plato

This reprint is one a few winters ago that embarassed me. A good lesson in nature is “Don’t assume you know it all.”
“There are two people in nature I hold in the highest regard. One is the late Bert Miller and the other is Ernie Giles formerly of Fort Erie but now from the Lake of Bays. Ernie called the other day. Could they stop in for a while. “You and Marlene come for lunch.” They did. I could show them Stephanie’s photos of the otter. I did. Otter? They both said, “That’s not an otter, Earl.” They proceeded to show me why. It’s a wild MINK! “ But Stephanie, who lives on the Niagara Boulevard, said that it was so playful like an otter. She was able to approach it Can you get that close to a wild mink? Yes, was the answer. I remembered that I had an Audubon Mammal book. We looked up River otter and mink. There was the proof. The mink is much smaller. The shape of the head was conclusive as we looked at the photos. Marlene and Ernie just looked at me as if to say, “Earl, give it up.”
As Ernie and Marlene left after a good lunch and fellowship the electricians arrived. Just as the two men were to leave I said to the one, “What do you think this is? “ Looks like mink. I’m from Port Severn my mother lives in Honey Harbour. She has wild mink there. They play around just like otters. The otters are much larger than this guy.”
Any one see a River otter on the Niagara, give me a call.eh.. ***