What a find.
Kymberly Clarke is a wildlife photographer near Copeland, Florida, and while walking through Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park the other day, came across an extremely rare sight.
An Everglades mink, a sub-species of the North American mink, scurried out into the path she was walking.
Mink typically are most active at dawn and dusk, so seeing one in broad daylight doesn’t happen often. Seeing one at all is rare, as their population is officially labeled “Threatened” by Florida Fish and Wildlife.
While they are native to the area, they have long had many predators to deal with. Alligators, great horned owls, bobcats, and fox are the longest standing of their adversaries, but the invasion of Burmese pythons has increased the harm done to those still living in the wild.
Still, the minks are holding on strong, probably due to their tough as nails nature and willingness to take on much larger challenges.
Fortunately for this guy, it looked like he was just out on a foraging mission and took a minute to enjoy the warm sun.
Kymberly Clarke had this to say on a post made to Instagram.
“While hiking last weekend, a friend and I had a the most amazing experience! I’m very excited to share this extremely rare Everglades Mink sighting!
Everglades Minks are highly elusive, classified as a threatened subspecies by FWC. The Everglades species (Mustela vison evergladensid) is one of three types of Minks found in Florida.
These Minks, endemic to the Florida Everglades, have been spotted in freshwater and saltwater marshes in Southern Florida, specifically the Everglades, Big Cypress and the Fakahatchee Strand.
They are rarely seen during the day because they hunt at night.”
Always keep your eyes peeled on the trails, you never know what you’re going to see.
Especially in Florida…
