Fishers and Minks

Endangered NJ gets lots of reports of wildlife sightings. Unfortunately, the majority are not accompanied by photos, videos, or any kind of physical evidence (such as tracks), so we can't always confirm the sighting.

Jamie in Lincoln Park sent us the backyard trail camera photo below of a fisher taken this month. The area borders the Great Piece Meadows Preserve off of RT 80. 

Fisher 

An earlier email was another possible fisher sighting about a half mile from Bearfort fire tower in West Milford near Cedar Pond, but the photos were too unclear to verify. 

Fishers (Martes pennanti) are the rarest of our state's water-loving mammals. They have made a comeback in northwestern New Jersey. Fishers were extirpated from New Jersey in the 1800s as their range in Sussex and Warren counties was taken over by farmland early in the country's history, forcing the animals to deeper woods. 

They are fierce carnivores and will hunt squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, mice, raccoons, shrews and even porcupines. 

Fisher    Photo: Mass Audubon

"Also referred to as the fisher cat and Appalachian black cat, this animal looks like fluffy cat meets fox, with a wolverine-like disposition. However, it is neither a feline nor does it catch fish. The fisher is a member of the Mustelidae family, which includes otters, badgers, martens, ferrets, minks, wolverines and more."    source

Minks are also part of that family and are native New Jersey mammals found in and around freshwater. They and other aquatic and semi-aquatic mammals – including beavers, otters, weasels, ermine, fishers and muskrats – live in our state but are not easy to spot.

I recently saw a post on Instagram from the Verona Park Conservancy of their resident mink. You don't always have to go into the deep woods to find wildlife.

You might be surprised to learn that the American mink is actually a very common species found along watercourses, ponds, lakes and swamps throughout New Jersey. However, they are primarily nocturnal and quite solitary animals, so people rarely encounter them.

Mink (Mustela vision) were well known for their beautiful, soft fur which was prized by trappers and for a long time was used for women's fur coats and clothing. Thankfully, that practice became unpopular as awareness of wildlife becoming threatened and endangered became better known. 

The American mink has a lanky body, long tail, short legs, and partially webbed toes, which make them excellent swimmers. They are quite territorial and feed on crayfish, frogs, fish, mice, reptiles, earthworms, and waterfowl. They aren't a threat to humans but like their skunk cousins, they will defend themselves by spraying a foul-smelling liquid.

More of our posts about:
fishers
minks

More on Fishers and Their Return to New Jersey

 

Fisher photo by Josh More via Flickr Creative Commons

The Wild New Jersey website has excerpts from David Wheeler’s 2011 book Wild New Jersey: Nature Adventures in the Garden State. One post is about a rare predator who has returned to New Jersey.

The excerpt is from a chapter about Charlie Kontos who was researching species who had once lived in New Jersey and were assumed to be gone (extirpated). They would include elk, fisher, and martens. Certainly, they are no elk wandering our woods, but Kontos thought that perhaps fishers or martens might still be here or might have returned since some of the forests had come back.

"Beaver, otter, black bear, and bobcat had returned to numbers near their previous levels. We need to reintroduce some of the other species we removed so long ago, Kontos thought. Cougars were fascinating – yet the public probably wasn’t ready to reintroduce such a top predator. But fishers? His academic advisors told him it could never happen. Like nature’s Don Quixote, Kontos was tilting at wildlife windmills.

But something told Kontos differently. The fisher – a tree-climbing, wolverine-like predator larger than a woodchuck – is most commonly found in the Adirondacks and Canada. Kontos felt certain it was already back in New Jersey. People just didn’t realize it yet.

He set up his first motion-trigger cameras in the remote wilds of northwestern New Jersey. The first six months produced not a single image of a fisher. Kontos was nearly ready to give up the dream when he uploaded the latest photo stills onto his laptop one morning. There it was – a clear, unambiguous photo. The fisher was back in New Jersey."

More at conservewildlifenj.org/blog/

What's That Creature in the Water? part 2

As I wrote in part one of this post, we don't have any huge creatures in any green or black New Jersey lagoons, but we do have an interesting group of fur-bearing, aquatic mammals in the state.

In part one, I wrote about minks, beavers and river otters. Today I look at four other elusive creatures that are often mistaken for each other and probably best known by fur trappers and biologists rather than the general public who may never have seen any of them in the wild.

Note that these species are rarely seen but not endangered or threatened in NJ and some are seeing their populations increase. even though they seem rare. Cleaner waters, more forest cover, and less trapping (all good things, I think) are helping their numbers. 

muskrat

 One that you are more likely to spot near water is the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). Despite the "rat" in their name and their long skinny tails, these rodents are not rats. 

Muskrats will sometimes build water houses like beavers, but they do not build dams. They get their name from their scent glands that secrete a musky odor. 

Short-tailed weasel AKA ermine or stoat, standing upright

 I have never seen an ermine (Mustela erminea) in the wild. Ermine is another name for the short-tailed weasel and they are best known and easily identified because of their white fur that appears fully in winter. But on a dry winter day in the woods, that white makes them easier to see - not that it has ever helped me spot one. In summer, their coats are brown with white chests and bellies. They look much like mink and other weasels - long bodies, short legs, round ears, long tails and long whiskers.

 Now, to totally confuse you, we also have long-tailed weasels (Mustela frenata).

long-tailed in winter coat looking very much
like an ermine/stoat

long-tailed in summer

 

All weasels are carnivores. The semi-webbed toes on their hind feet help them swim, and they eat roots, stems, leaves and fruits of aquatic plants, as well as small fish, clams, snails, crayfish and turtles.

 

Fisher - NPS photo by Emily Brouwer, PD via Wikimedia

The most elusive and fiercest of all the mammals in these two posts is the Fisher (Martes pennanti). 

Other posts on this blog about fishers have gotten a lot of comments from people who believe they have spotted this rarest of New Jersey’s water-loving mammals. They are making a comeback primarily in northwestern New Jersey after an absence of 100 years.

They are fierce carnivores that will hunt squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, mice, raccoons, shrews and even porcupines. According to the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey website, “The best description of a fisher would be to imagine a cross between a cat and a fox with the nasty attitude of a wolverine.”

Fisher Followup

Fisher by http://www.ForestWander.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 us, Link

The fisher is a long-bodied and short-legged animal, with a bushy tail that makes up a third of its total body length.

People keep reporting their presence in New Jersey to me. (see other fisher posts) They are increasing in numbers, but a good percentage of the sightings are probably misidentifications.

They are not endangered and have no natural enemies. In NJ, their deaths are mostly from trapping by humans and vehicle collisions.

Here is some information that may help you with identification if you encounter them.

They are solitary creatures and have home ranges between 1-3 square miles, but usually don't overlap. They are territorial. They are active day or night.

Their dens are used year round, often using tree hollows, stumps, debris piles, natural crevices, and underground tunnels. Females with litters will use tree hollows that are far off the ground.

Males weigh in at 8-13 pounds and reach lengths between 35-47 inches, while females weigh between 3 and 7 pounds and are between 30-37 inches long. Males have grizzled fur due to blonde guard hairs on their neck and shoulders, while females are a uniform chocolate brown.

Fishers are predators and compete with coyotes, bobcats, foxes and even raptors and they will travel many miles and cross water to find food.

Fishers are a generalist carnivore species. They will eat anything they can catch which is usually small-medium-sized mammals and birds. They will also eat some carrion and nuts and fruits. In heavy snow conditions, they have been known to take down weak or injured deer.

One unusual diet note is that this is the only predator of porcupines in the country. The fisher will chase a porcupine up a tree until it can go no further and falls and then it will shoot down and attack the stunned porcupine in its unprotected underside.

SOURCE:  www.conservewildlifenj.org

The Fisher Has Returned. Or is it a Mink?

Nicole sent us a video from her home night vision camera that is two blocks from Shark River Park in Neptune Township. She believes it captured fishers in her yard. She saw at least 3 of them - 2 near her landscaping bed (seen in the screen grabs here) and at least one near the street.

Nicole says they look a bit like minks but are larger than any minks she has seen in the area. It's a tough identification - especially from the video - as the two look very similar.

We get several of these identification reports or questions each month and it is difficult to say for sure without the opportunity to examine the specimen up close (teeth, paws, etc.) Earlier someone commented with a link to a photo of a vulture with what appeared to be a small fisher.

Yes, you can and should report sightings of rare wildlife.

The mink is not threatened in NJ and has a trapping season. The fisher (Martes pennanti) was extirpated almost 100 years ago. That doesn't mean the fisher is extinct. That is when there is the complete disappearance of a species. Extirpation, also called local extinction, is the disappearance of a species only from a given area.

It is sometimes called a "fisher cat" or Appalachian black cat. It does look like a blend of a fluffy cat and a fox. But it's a lot meaner - closer to a wolverine.

Oddly enough, it is not a feline and it does not catch fish. It is in The fisher is a member of the Mustelidae family, which includes otters, badgers, martens, ferrets, minks, and wolverines.

Can you tell the difference between these two specimens?  One is a mink, one is a fisher.

Fisher or mink?               images via wikipedia commons

Fisher or Mink?

Through no efforts by the state's wildlife agencies, the fisher is again present in at least Sussex and Warren counties based on trappings by state officials. There are not many and they probably arrived because of re-introduction by New York and Pennsylvania in the last decade.

The fisher is a top predator but it disappeared from our state due to trapping for its pelt and because excessive logging practices during the 19th and 20th centuries caused populations beyond NJ and across its entire range.

This website has received reports on sightings, photos caught by trail cameras and anecdotal stories and questions from homeowners.

Did Nicole capture images of fishers?  It's possible. 

Want to know the answer to the identification of the two photos above? Take a look here and here.

Fishers Return to New Jersey

Fisher - via wikipedia commons

Since the days of logging operations and unregulated trapping in New Jersey back in the early 1900s, you haven't heard or seen much of the fisher in our state. This species was once widely taken for its fur and was eliminated (extirpated) statewide.

But it seems to be making a comeback. Recently, two trappings of fishers by state officials in North Jersey, seems to indicate a return of fishers to the state.

Fishers are long, slender animals usually measuring between 20 and 25 inches with dark brown or black fur with white-tipped hair over most of their bodies.They prefer to live in forested areas, making dens in hollow trees and preying on small animals, including mice, squirrels, shrew and even porcupines.

Fishers are good swimmers and may be found by lakes, timbered swamps and bogs. They can have a home range of 1-3, but up to 15 square miles.

Sometimes confused with the wolverine (which does not exist in NJ), fishers are found only in North America. Also referred to as the fisher cat and Appalachian black cat, this animal may look like a cat or fox, but has a tough wolverine-like disposition.

Its name is a misnomer in that it is neither a feline nor does it catch fish. The fisher (Martes pennanti) is a member of the Mustelidae family, which includes otters, badgers, martens, ferrets, minks, and wolverines.

According to conservewildlifenj.org, this carnivore will eat anything it can catch — typically small- to medium-sized mammals and birds, carrion and some nuts and fruits also make up a portion of its diet. They can take down weak or injured deer, especially in times of heavy snow pack.

One distinction is that it is the  only predator of porcupines in the country. Those ominous prickly porcupine quills are effective against most predators except the fisher. It pursues a porcupine up a tree until it can go no further and falls. The fall stuns the porcupine, allowing the fisher to access the unprotected underside.


The fishers found in New Jersey probably came from some that were reintroduced in Northern Pennsylvania in the 1990s or from the Catskill Region of New York State, where they were introduced in the late 1970s to early 1980s,

There have only been three previous live discoveries of fishers in New Jersey in the last decade.

This year, one was captured in January in Mansfield Township and another fisher was caught and released in February in Washington Township, according to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Being that fishers have no natural enemies and few disease occurrences, without trapping by humans, vehicle collisions are the most likely reason for their death.

A fisher in West Virginia via Wikipedia Commons

New Jersey Furbearers

American mink

Despite the title of an online article, "The American Mink, one of N.J.’s most common semi-aquatic carnivore," I myself (and I suspect many readers) have never seen a mink in my Jersey travels. The mink (Mustela vison) is native to the state, although it is thought that escapees from mink farms have interbred with wild mink.

The mink is not threatened in the state and has a stable population. Not threatened, unless you consider that The New Jersey Hunting and Trapping Digest lists raccoon, skunk, opossum, weasel, mink, muskrat, red and gray fox, coyote, beaver, otter and nutria as species that have open seasons for trapping in the State of New Jersey. (In New Jersey, a Trapper Education course must be passed and a trapping license obtained to trap in the state - see http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/trapping_info.htm)

Several of these species were not here historically or disappeared and have only returned through re-introductions.

Native to NJ are the river otter (Lontra canadensis), long-tailed (Mustela frenata) and short-tailed ermine (Mustela ermine). Also native are the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), raccoon (Procyon lotor) or gray fox (Urocyon cinereorgenteus).

Coyotes, which are now being reported with more frequency in the state, were never present in New Jersey until the past fifty or so years. Their appearance is due to many factors including habitat loss in their previous area of habitation. The current theory is that overall movement (based on DNA sampling) in the last century by the western coyote to the midwest, Great Lake states and through Lower Canada led to some western coyotes mating with gray wolves. Their offspring moved further eastward through Lower Canada and down through the New England states and into the Mid-Atlantic States.

NJ had gray wolves in the state until about the mid-1850s. Today, there are no wolves in New Jersey outside of zoos and preserves. But the eastern coyote appears to be here to stay.

Some of our other furbearing creatures past and present include:

• Marten (Martes americana) historically present but extirpated since the mid-1800s
• The fisher (Martes pennanti) also extirpated but again present in Sussex and Warren counties although few in number. Probably due to re-introduction by New York and Pennsylvania in the last decade
• Beaver (Castor canadensis) had almost disappeared from here by the early 1800s. It is believed that some escapees from the Rutherford-Stuyvesant game preserve in Allamuchy, Warren County established a breeding population. Restocking enabled the beaver to re-establish itself by the mid-20th century. 
• Most common to us is the raccoon which is, was and has always been a native of New Jersey and was a species that the British explorers to this new land reported, since they did not exist in Britain.
• Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) was thought to be numerous in the central and southern part of the state in the late 1860s, but in the last hundred years the range of both opossum and raccoons has extended much further north including into Canada where they historically never existed.

opossum