American mink are semi-aquatic hunters, diving and swimming through Idaho’s rivers and streams to hunt fish, crayfish, and small mammals, which ties the state’s 186 records to water-adjacent forest at Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests, Boise National Forest, and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area rather than any dry upland habitat.
Records run fairly steady across the year with a modest August peak, more than four times the January low, though the pattern stays broad enough that no single month dominates. NatureServe ranks the species S3, vulnerable, in Idaho, a more cautious state-level read than its secure global status, and its solitary, mostly nocturnal habits make it one of the harder waterway predators to document even where it’s genuinely common.
Full species profile
