August 2022
Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
The shallow bays of the island are prime fishing sites for local River Otters. Last week I saw otters in two different bays, a mile apart, conceivably the same individual but more likely different otters. We have lots living along our shores.
One occasion was a week ago alongside the dock where we keep the boat. A lone otter was hunting gunnels — long skinny eel-like bottom fish, 4-8” long of slippery goodness. Gunnels are so abundant they’re the bread and butter for our local otters, and can be eaten directly once brought up to the surface. It’s only 5-10 feet deep right there so an otter doesn’t spend more than a minute diving down and along the bottom to find its next fish.
In the following video you can watch the otter’s progress underwater by following its bubbles. The video shows the otter’s typical technique, plus a slightly more embarrassing near miss. If you look closely as he comes up with his third fish, you can see the gunnel gets away (though in the end the otter may have caught up with it).
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The second occasion was yesterday. I was standing on the shore of a quieter bay, which is also quite shallow and fishy. This bay is accessed by path rather than road so it gets much less human traffic on the beach. That means otters come out onto shore more frequently than in the other bay (where they prefer to haul out on the docks instead).
This otter munched on gunnels for a while and then bee-lined for the beach. He moseyed into the driftwood and did quite an extensive sniffing of a particular spot. Like reading the news. His rolling in the sand there was mostly obscured by driftwood but he clearly liked that private little spot.
Two minute video:
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After returning to the water to resume fishing, he came up with a good-size Staghorn Sculpin. Sculpins are also bottomfish and pretty common in these bays, if not as abundant as gunnels. Otters can’t eat bigger fish like these while floating — it’s necessary to bring it out onto land (or a rock or dock or boat) for the several minutes it takes to chew it down. I’ve seen an otter work on a really big one for ten minutes at least.
Condensed video (1:47 min) showing why the otter needs to be out of the water to eat a bigger fish like this:
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Then he was off fishing again.
These otters are well aware of everything going on above the surface as well as below. They know where any people are on shore or on the water. On these occasions, you can tell they consider me non-threatening, based on where I am and the fact I’m standing still. At other times it’s clear they find people a nuisance, but put up with us for the sake of all those yummy fish.
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Sunny and cooler in the PNW islands today. Temps in high 60s. Calm wind.
WHAT’S UP IN NATURE IN YOUR AREA TODAY
Monday, Aug 29, 2022 · 7:31:02 PM +00:00
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OceanDiver
Low tide this morning so I was able to get down onto the beach to check out the site in the driftwood. It’s an otter latrine. Photos of poop on that log, and otter tracks in sandy spot.