I was looking out of the window at the yard pond, watching a chipmunk cross the stones along the back of the pond as they do dozens of times a day. The chipmunk disappeared quickly under a rock. Suddenly I saw something long, furry and dark brown following the same path the chipmunk had taken. It was a weasel. It was after the chipmunk. Weasels are very agressive predators and are related to martens, fishers, minks, badgers and skunks. They eat insects and small rodents, especially mice, rats, chipmunks, etc. They also eat birds and bird eggs. This weasel kept searching among the stones around the pond while I took photos. It moved quckly around the pond and the rocks bordering the pond stream and waterfall. It then made its way back to the pond and began to dig in the flowerbed directly behind the pond. I knew the chipmunk had a den there. I went outside to try to at least distract it or at most scare it away. Weasels like many of their relatives have very poor eyesight but a good sense of smell. I got to within 4 or 5 feet of it as it dug. I was surprised at how quickly it could dig. I could here its teeth tearing at roots as it dug. Every few seconds it would back out to look around. When it did I stood very still, and even though the sun was shining and I was wearing a white tee shirt it did not seem to notice me. It was only after I tossed a small gravel near it that it came up and then began to move quickly around the pond and back up the yard stream. I didn't want it to get under the house (Weasels can go through a one inch opening), so I hurried to get between it and the house. It took refuge in the rocks of the waterfall. I positioned myself between it and the house, and it kept sticking its head out to look around, as it blinked in the bright sunlight. After a couple of minutes it slipped out and went back toward the pond. I started to move in that direction when I saw it running swiftly away from the pond toward the edge of the yard and the woods. It was carrying a dead chipmunk. Evidently the two had met as the weasel was slipping through the rocks around the pond, and the weasel had quickly killed it. After a few moments I went back into the house. I glanced back outside and it was back, moving along the stream again. I went back outside and a few seconds later saw it running again towards the woods. It didn't come back, at least I didn't see it, if it did. This was probably the Long-tailed Weasel, which is the most common of three species found in North America.