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The pine marten moves around in trees surprisingly seldom, mainly only when it senses danger nearby. So it showed up on the ground in the badger camera. When the curious animal explores the surroundings from a safe height it can be photographed. The marten does not even hunt squirrels in trees, for hunting it has other strategies; of course it climbs to plunder the nests of birds…

 

In western Estonia and Saaremaa pine martens also inhabit juniper shrubs, elsewhere it prefers mixed forests with a dense undergrowth, and with tree hollows for the breeding period.

 

The young were born in May: 2-4 blind pups that needed care. The female has four teats and should there be more pups the smallest will be weak: the strongest fight successfully for the suckling positions. The young are suckled for about 40 days. An observant watcher may see the playful young romping about in tree tops in evenings.

 

The pine martens mate around mid-summer, or about now, but the fertilized eggs begin to develop only towards the end of the coming winter.

 

Pine martens mark their territory with secretions from an anal gland, as a note to those of its own species and other forest inhabitants. The marks stay on grass tufts, tree stumps, rocks for a few weeks. The pine marten family breaks up in autumn, the young must leave the female’s territory and find a suitable area for living for themselves.

 

In the forests the pine marten basically hunts for mice: bank voles, voles, yellow-necked mice, also water voles; with luck some forest Galliformes bird, or a young and stupid mountain hare can be caught.

 

In addition to the pine marten a small number of stone or beech martens live in the Estonian forests. The breast patch of this rather rare creature is white and in winter no hairs grow on the soles of its paws.

 

Pine marten

 

_{(Estonian original publ 17.07.2015)}