Ep. 180 : Winter of the Fisher

It has been the Winter of the Fisher indeed with long tracking missions following three different Fishers at three locations in Southern Ontario between November 27, 2021 - January 16, 2022. I had only written of one of the experiences and hadn’t really told the story of the second and third, I thought I could detail some of what happened, and some of what I had been learning about for this episode.

Fisher (Pekania pennanti) is a hefty member of the Weasel family (Mustelidae) only found in North America. Once trapped widely for their pelts, Fishers were once extirpated from many regions, but through extensive protections, reintroductions and better land management practice, Fishers are reclaiming some of their prior range.

Powerful and beautiful, fierce and fuzzy, the Fisher is an animal I long to know more about. Here I share a couple of stories and share some entries from field guides in an effort to learn from this wonderful animal.

To Learn More :
Behaviour of North American Mammals by Mark Elbroch and Kurt Rinehart. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.
An Etymology of Vermont Vertebrates by Teage O’Connor. Crow’s Path, date unknown.