Animals: ermine?

Self-tutoring about suburban animals: the tutor mentions ermine.

Out in the yard yesterday, I noticed some scat (droppings) unlike any I’d seen previously. It was about 1 to 1.5 inches long, around 3/8 inch wide, black, with berry seeds sticking out. It reminded me of bear scat but was much too small. I wondered what it could be, but my instincts suggested weasel. I haven’t seen a weasel in nearly 50 years, and that was in the Maritimes. I’ve never seen weasel scat, that I know. Still, it’s somehow what I suspected, based on its size and difference from anything else I’ve seen.

Well, I could be right: ermine, a kind of weasel (that’s my interpretation), apparently do live around here, and are known to live in suburban areas.

Some websites say weasels are exclusively carnivores; Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department says they do eat berries.

Whatever it was, I imagine it’s transient.

Source:

wildlife.state.nh.us

gov.bc.ca

maine.gov