Warning: Extremely cute baby otter photos below....Awww factor at high end of range. ;-)
(also lots of pics, but mostly below the fold)
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
June 22, 2015
Salish Sea, PNW
High-pitched shrill cries, over and over, echoing across the bay mystified me the other day. It sounded much like a blackbird warning scream but much louder. I could not see who was making the sounds - what bird could that be?? I walked down the beach in the general direction of the calls until I was across from a little island.
This island is inaccessible unless the tide is at least minus 1 foot, a rare occasion (or by kayak, but landing on jagged rocks wouldn't be easy). I have been out there a few times, searching for seastars, but today it was 300 unwadeable feet away. Searching from shore for any movement I finally saw a River Otter swimming toward the island. It climbed out and up the rocks, sleek and dripping.
This island is a popular hangout for otters, judging from the piles of crab shells, otter poop, and flattened grassy spots. This otter stopped and looked around. Next thing I knew a single otter pup bounded up after the otter: a mom and baby!
All these photos were taken with a zoom, but getting clear images at that distance is tricky. To see better resolution, click on an image.
(All photos by me, in Lightbox)
Sources say in the PNW a typical River Otter litter is 2-5 pups, born in March/April (I wonder why just one in this family?). Pups are cared for entirely by the mother, start swimming at 2 months and are weaned at 3-5 months (depending on the source, source). This lone pup could swim, but had screamed all the way across the bay from wherever the den was on shore. But following mom over the island, the pup was quiet...
...until mom lay down and rolled in the grass. Otters roll to dry and fluff up their wonderfully thick fur. Pup watched and complained.
Perhaps mom was showing her pup how to roll, but pup was not interested. Mom and pup conversed a bit, and then disappeared down the rocks on the other side of the island.
I walked along the beach until I could see that side of the island from a better angle. They'd slipped back into the water there and were fishing, or I should say mom was fishing and her pup was squalling loudly. I could see pup had a full set of teeth, as well as healthy lungs! Pup swam back and forth, and rested on the nearby rocks once.
Once it looked like the pup was hanging onto her tail as she ate...an otter stays at the surface while negotiating a long slippery fish down the hatch. The pup appeared to have swimming pretty well figured out, but did not do any diving. When mom dived, leaving the pup alone on the surface, its crying was quite piteous.
After a longer dive than usual mom popped up to the surface with a gigantic Dungeness crab. Pup came over to "help" and mom dropped the crab. Inadvertently? or perhaps she was teaching it how to grab a crab in your teeth? though this crab was almost as big as the pup! After a flurry of splashing and wriggling, mom got a secure lock on the crab, its claws still waving. Mom and her pup then swam straight over to the island. A big crab can't be eaten in the water; it needs a proper table where it can be dismembered and enjoyed at leisure.
Mom headed for a cave in the rocks. Just before climbing out, she dove suddenly. The pup crouched on the rock, calling to her.
I saw movement above me, and looked up. Gliding close overhead, looking down on them was a Bald Eagle. Adult otters are too big for eagles to carry off, but a young pup would be a nice prize.
It glided on by, and settled in a tree on shore. When I looked back at the otters, mom had emerged onto the rocks with the crab, but the pup was nowhere in sight. The cave was quite a ways off, and I couldn't make out dark shapes in a dark cave very well, but after a few minutes I could see the pup inching its way down toward mom, out of a crack in the top of the cave, its darker fur distinguishable from hers. It had hidden in a flash when the eagle soared over, either on its own or directed by mom.
I did not see the pup eating any of the crab, although it circled around the growing pile of shells. I figure it was 2-3 months old, maybe at the start of learning about solid food.
Every now and then as she crunched through the legs and carapace, mom otter looked upward. Following her gaze, I saw a mink amble along the top of the cave. See it? - above her and to the left, in the orange lichen. Perhaps it was checking out the fresh crab smell and sounds.
Both otters and mink nest in burrows, either dug into the ground or under old tree trunks, and this island had neither, being a thin layer of soil over bedrock. One small native crabapple shrub, a wind-torn wild rose thicket, some grass and perennial wildflowers are all that can survive on this rock. It makes a good resting and eating spot though, safe from people and dogs.
Finally I had to leave, to get back home for my own dinner. The mom and baby otter were still in the cave, the baby quiet now. I'll know to watch for baby otters now when I hear that particular persistent ringing call.
I hope you enjoyed this peek into early summer wildlife daily life. I know I sure did!
UPDATE: Thursday evening, 6/25. I've been going down to the beach to watch this island every day since this incident, hoping to see some more activity. Nothing. All quiet. I did see some tracks in the sand going up into the woods and back, but that could be any otters.
Which is to say that I don't see cool wildlife action like this every day - NOT. It's quite rare in fact. That's why I go outside wandering around frequently - my chances increase the more often I'm out there.
~
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