I know, you're all wondering, "How come you never see pictures of Pine Martins with their tongue out, or their mouth open, or in an awkward position, like I am in every picture someone takes of me?"

Well it happens to Pine Martins too....

[photolady95]

I first heard of Pine Martins while living in Minnesota, but never saw any of them. These photos are great Norm. I specially like the first tongue out, and that last one. Looks like he's licking his chops and thinking or wondering how you would taste. Thanks for sharing these wonderful photos with me.

[Rupert]

WOW! Those are some excellent shots Norm! Some of your best stuff! What a neat little guy he is too!

BTW- We have two pine trees out in the Woods of Otis. After viewing your shots here and those teeth, Otis went out and was heard barking orders to his Army Squirrels...."Cut them down!" I guess he isn't taking any chances!

Regards!

[Johndav]

I know Pine Martens are native in Scotland but never imagined they would be native to Canada too. The Scottish ones have dark faces (not that I've ever seen one out in the wild); you have got some terrific shots of these menacing little beasts, I'm very jealous.

[RGlasel]

Norm, I was wondering if Ontario Pine Martens are different than the martens in Western Canada; turns out it's the same species, also known as the American Marten. While not as rare and shy as the fisher, it still is quite uncommon to come across any Pine Martens in my neck of the woods, never mind find ones eager to have their pictures taken. Did you use a remote control? How did you get your camera close enough to get these pictures with ~200mm focal length? Outstanding pictures, but I am especially impressed with the subject matter.

[normhead]

I first heard of Pine Martins while living in Minnesota, but never saw any of them. These photos are great Norm. I specially like the first tongue out, and that last one. Looks like he's licking his chops and thinking or wondering how you would taste. Thanks for sharing these wonderful photos with me.

Thanks for commenting...

WOW! Those are some excellent shots Norm! Some of your best stuff! What a neat little guy he is too!

BTW- We have two pine trees out in the Woods of Otis. After viewing your shots here and those teeth, Otis went out and was heard barking orders to his Army Squirrels...."Cut them down!" I guess he isn't taking any chances!

Regards!

You need a lot of pine trees to get Pine Martins, tell Otis not to worry.

I know Pine Martens are native in Scotland but never imagined they would be native to Canada too. The Scottish ones have dark faces (not that I've ever seen one out in the wild); you have got some terrific shots of these menacing little beasts, I'm very jealous.

Ya, I get lucky every now and then.

Norm, I was wondering if Ontario Pine Martens are different than the martens in Western Canada; turns out it's the same species, also known as the American Marten. While not as rare and shy as the fisher, it still is quite uncommon to come across any Pine Martens in my neck of the woods, never mind find ones eager to have their pictures taken. Did you use a remote control? How did you get your camera close enough to get these pictures with ~200mm focal length? Outstanding pictures, but I am especially impressed with the subject matter.

Well I probably owe you a story....
These guys, four of them have found out that they can get into the bear proof garbage cans at Mew Lake Campground at Algonquin Park, so oh their regular rounds, they occasionally come and check out the garbage. This is extremely rare, before this year, I had seen two Pine Martins in 35 years of coming to the park. And I spend 30-50 days a year in the bush. SO of course, I've been 4 times in the last week, working on technique, trying different things to get them to hang around. While this could become a regular occurrence, I thought it best to get as many images as I might ever want while I had the chance. So after 4 days and probably 800 images, I have 51 keepers of which about 30 are probably unique. On average I stayed about 2 to 3 hours, with the Martins being present for maybe 15 minutes of each hour. The first day I got almost nothing. The park gets a lot of winter campers so the animals are quite used to humans, and you have to get quite close before they are spooked, and for the most part just go about their business as if you weren't there. But even getting close, they really prefer branchy trees and travel, via branches like squirrels, so it's not often they are on the ground or out in the open. YOU need to be close just to have a chance of getting an image without a lot of branches in the way.

Hope that explains the situation.

Bear proof garbage cans and Pine Martins...


Bear proof not Martin proof.



Patience is a virtue... you wouldn't believe how many people found out what I was doing, and decided they couldn't wait half an hour for a chance to see them.



Pine Martins with a choice of a whole garbage can, will select bread.... who knew?


As I said, this hasn't happened before, so no one knows if they will still be around next year. I tell people who are interested to get in gear and get up here. No one can guarantee this will ever happen again. My guess is, the park will come up with a solution to stop the Martins from getting into the garbage this summer, if not before.

To see a 27 image slideshow, click here.

[Carpon]

Great shots.

[normhead]

Thanks

[pete-tarmigan]

I know Pine Martens are native in Scotland but never imagined they would be native to Canada too. The Scottish ones have dark faces (not that I've ever seen one out in the wild); you have got some terrific shots of these menacing little beasts, I'm very jealous.

The species in Scotland (Martes martes) is different from that in North America (Martes americana). The latter has a broad distribution across forested Canada and NW US, although it has been extirpated from southern parts of Canada and NE US due to habitat loss.

I've never heard of martens raiding garbage cans and never would have guessed that they would eat starchy food instead of meat. I've only ever seen them while seated quietly for extended periods of time. It's rare to get the chance to photograph them, so Normhead's effort has been well rewarded.

[slowpez]

Some of the those poses remind me of me before i have had my coffee. Great job Norm. Really enjoying the photos of such a rare animal.

[normhead]

Your welcome , thanks for commenting.

Let me guess, #1 and #2 before coffee, #3 afterwords?

[Sailor]

These are great, Norm. I'm ashamed to say that I figured a pine martin is a bird; thanks for continuing my education.

Jer

[TinaS]

Impressive. Thank you for sharing these.

[csa]

I live in pine martin territory, but have never seen one. I absolutely am thrilled to see your great images of these illusive little critters!

Thanks for having the patience, so we can enjoy your work!

[normhead]

The species in Scotland (Martes martes) is different from that in North America (Martes americana). The latter has a broad distribution across forested Canada and NW US, although it has been extirpated from southern parts of Canada and NE US due to habitat loss.

I've never heard of martens raiding garbage cans and never would have guessed that they would eat starchy food instead of meat. I've only ever seen them while seated quietly for extended periods of time. It's rare to get the chance to photograph them, so Normhead's effort has been well rewarded.

This really is probably a once in a lifetime chance... I'm sure the park will fix the garbage cans that are attracting them. IN their defence I think it was probably the choice between bread and nothing, not bread and meat, I put out some canned cat food for them, and they went for it right away and ignored the garbage. The park says don't feed the animals, but, I rather they ate better food than what they find in the garbage, until they get the garbage cans fixed I don't think they have a case.

These are great, Norm. I'm ashamed to say that I figured a pine martin is a bird; thanks for continuing my education.

Jer

It does sound a bit like a bird....

Impressive. Thank you for sharing these.

Thanks for commenting.

I live in pine martin territory, but have never seen one. I absolutely am thrilled to see your great images of these illusive little critters!

Thanks for having the patience, so we can enjoy your work!

Before two years ago, I'd seen one, in 33 years. When you get an opportunity like this, you have to go for it.