It hardly sounds it, but Oil Creek's diversity of wildlife points out just how pristine and rich an ecosystem exists in Venango County and on the Crawford County border.
The occasional bear wanders outside the Petroleum Center state park office to raid the bird feeder.
At least one person swears to have seen -- and photographed -- a fisher bringing down a white-tailed deer a few winters ago.
Bald eagles and kingfishers patrol the valley from end to end, often above stalk-still great blue herons. Songbirds own the treed hills, and mergansers paddle the moving waters.
Always there are the trout that draw anglers from all around the region, and the summer smallmouth bass. They feed on a tremendous population of insects that during some hatches float above the stream like dancing snowflakes.
And under the great rocks that litter the freestone creek bed are crayfish, some with pincers the size of your thumb.
That's what the healthy mink in this video selected for dinner.