What a surprising sight. What a delight.

Out of what looked like a common gopher hole, by the path on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, peeked a long-tailed weasel. Much, much cuter than a gopher, with catlike grace but a much longer, skinnier body, the weasel popped in and out of its hole a few times, then scurried down the cliff face to the bay. We haven’t spotted it again.