On Fri, 29 May 1998, lydia wrote:

> But the real treat was catching a litter of baby martins frollicking
> around the footbridge on the path. These teensy-tiny baby weasels
> startled me as much as I startled them. I froze in my tracks as the
> scurried away. Moments later they climbed back to the bridge to stare at
> me. They kept playing hide and seek until only one returned for one last
> stare at the strange creature.....me.
>
> I'm pretty sure they were martins. They were dark reddish-brown on top
> and a lighter shade on the bottom. They had long slender tails with
> darker tufts on the ends. Their body language said "weasel" or "ferret",
> but they were so tiny! Martins are the smallest of the weasel family
> aren't they? Those little critters were having so much fun, I really
> enjoyed watching them romp!
>

Hi Lydia,

The smallest weasel that we have is an Ermine. They are about the same
size as a lab rat, or even smaller. They would look much smaller that
ferrets that you see in pet stores. The next step up would be Short-tailed
and Long-tailed Weasel. They are about the same size as each other, which
would look a little a larger than a pet store ferret, and despite there
name the lenght of their tails is not a feild mark.All three of these
are brownish above and white below. Ermine and Short-tailed Weasel have
white feet and the Long-tailed Weasel has brown feet.

A Martin (_Martes americana_) is a pretty uncommon critter to see. They
mainly come out at night and stay pretty far away from people - as far as
I know. If you are calling it a Martin based on a "lighter shade of brown"
and not "white," per se, might I suggest the possibility of River Otter?
More exactly, baby River Otters. They should have a lighter throat, as
you described, which could look like a Martin, and they would be about the
cutest thing you ever saw. The location sounds about right for River
Otter, as they are pretty tolerent of humans. I have seen them many times
at places like the Montlake Fill.

What ever it was, any of the Weasel like things are a joy to watch.
Congradulations.

Russell

Russell Rogers
6637 Glenwood Drive SW
Olympia WA 98512
(360) 709-9870