Marten Standoff
Goings on at the cabinby Dan Hartman
Dec. 9, 2010
Cindy and I returned to our cabin late Sunday afternoon to hear screaming and snarling sounds coming from our woodpile. I knew it was probably martens fighting. The racket continued for quite sometime, then silence. Somehow the martens slipped away then without us seeing them. After dark we noticed a marten curled up in a stump outside our window. When a smaller female marten entered the yard we were surprised when the first marten barely raised its’ head. Obviously something was wrong. When it finally moved around a bit we found it couldn’t use its’ right front leg. The little female marten had looked fine. How had his injury occurred? All week we watched as the marten hopped around our yard. When he climbed through the trees the marten often lost his footing and fell. It was tough to watch. Tuesday night I stepped out on the porch to listen to wolves howling. It was a minute before I realized the injured marten was perched on a snag five feet from me. His head was turned towards the howling, ears pointed forward, listening. I told him how cool I thought the sound was. He looked at me and let out a series of low growls in response. It seemed we were having a conversation, so I said, “Well, you are safe up there!”. And once again he responded with a series of soft growls.Thursday morning the mystery of how his injury occurred became clear. We looked out to see two male martens in a stare down. Our injured marten glaring at a slightly larger marten. This new marten has a swollen right eye.
Now this afternoon I’m a bit confused. I got back from a snowshoe hike to find both male martens in the woodpile. They were sitting side by side like old pals!
Cindy and I returned to our cabin late Sunday afternoon to hear screaming and snarling sounds coming from our woodpile. I knew it was probably martens fighting. The racket continued for quite sometime, then silence. Somehow the martens slipped away then without us seeing them. After dark we noticed a marten curled up in a stump outside our window. When a smaller female marten entered the yard we were surprised when the first marten barely raised its’ head. Obviously something was wrong. When it finally moved around a bit we found it couldn’t use its’ right front leg. The little female marten had looked fine. How had his injury occurred? All week we watched as the marten hopped around our yard. When he climbed through the trees the marten often lost his footing and fell. It was tough to watch. Tuesday night I stepped out on the porch to listen to wolves howling. It was a minute before I realized the injured marten was perched on a snag five feet from me. His head was turned towards the howling, ears pointed forward, listening. I told him how cool I thought the sound was. He looked at me and let out a series of low growls in response. It seemed we were having a conversation, so I said, “Well, you are safe up there!”. And once again he responded with a series of soft growls.
Thursday morning the mystery of how his injury occurred became clear. We looked out to see two male martens in a stare down. Our injured marten glaring at a slightly larger marten. This new marten has a swollen right eye.
Now this afternoon I’m a bit confused. I got back from a snowshoe hike to find both male martens in the woodpile. They were sitting side by side like old pals!
Photos
Marten with injured leg
Marten with swollen eye
Stand Off
Martens
Wood Pile Buddies
Marten with squirrel