November, 2016 Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
Lots of grey days this November.
One thing I can do to shake off some of the gloom is to get outside into nature, even if it’s windy and wet. The quiet clean-smelling air brings me back to earth and the natural world calms my mind. Sometimes I get lucky enough to cross paths with wildlife like the otters above which perks me right up. I hope a few otter moments might lighten your day too :)
Days are short now in the Pacific Northwest: it gets too dark to wander around outside by 5 pm now, especially when there’s a thick cloud cover. On this drizzly calm day last week it was already getting dark at 4 pm. In the monochromatic winter dusk often all you can see of wildlife is movement. That was the case when I stood on the high bank of a nearby bay: grey/brown shades of sea, sky, sand, driftwood, and…..otters!
Photo-story below > > >
At first I saw just one, swimming by below me. It exited the water onto the beach nearby and had a good shake. This guy was quite a big River Otter (Lontra canadensis), so I’m thinking likely an adult male. Otters are generally solitary in the Salish Sea except during breeding (in late winter/early spring) and family groups of a mom with her youngsters. There are lots of variations of social behavior throughout their range but this is what local researchers report about our area.
He climbed up and over the driftwood and squatted at the base of the steep bank for a few minutes, checking out the area.
the beach — Mr Otter is sitting at the base of the eroding clay bank
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Mr Otter rambled along the driftwood, angling back toward the water. Suddenly he stopped and stared down the beach.
Mr Otter’s attention is caught by something in the driftwood.
He turns and gallops across the sand back in my direction. Behind him were 4 more otters pouring off the driftwood, heading this way.
I was watching the group now and didn’t see where the big guy went after he disappeared behind the bulkhead below me. The 4 new otters followed his path up the beach...
...pausing to sniff certain spots. A group on land like this is called a romp of otters. In water they’re a raft of otters.
They all jumped into the water and milled around for a bit before coming back out at the same spot. I thought maybe they had seen me. Otters are equally at home on land and in the water, and when they feel threatened almost invariably go for the water. I don’t know why they came back out. Did not appear to be fishing since their heads were above the surface.
These four are likely a family group. It’s hard to tell size when they are moving since they can stretch and condense but these don’t look all the same size — probably a mom with her pups from this year (born sometime between March and May) and maybe an auntie.
Otters have short legs — makes it easy to sniff the ground. Besides good vision and smell and hearing, their sensitive whiskers are very useful (even more so underwater where the visibility is poor). They are picking up far more information than I could ever perceive there.
They use the driftwood like a highway. Running! (sigh...I used to do that too when I was younger, and didn’t have to worry about falling and breaking bones). These logs are wet but otters have fours sets of sharp claws for traction.
Whoaaa! I’m seen :/
I was keeping very still but the click click of the camera would be noticeable on this quiet day. And by standing up I’m visible — a PREDATOR I guess. Which is actually a little surprising since otters have no predators here in the islands: no coyotes, bobcats, cougars, wolves, or bears. In the water they have no predators at all (except alligators, where those live, which is not anywhere around here!) Their instinctual wariness of terrestrial predators is probably the reason they take refuge underwater.
They check out some tantalizing scents...
...and then head for the water again. They have a distinctive slithering entry, crouching down onto their bellies and sliding into the waves.
Otters are fantastic swimmers, using their whole body including their gigantic tail, which both propels them and acts like a rudder. When they are just going somewhere they swim with their eyes and nose above the surface. You can see much farther in air than in water.
But they came back out again, slithering much as they went in. The one in front looks bigger than the three behind — mom? The otter on the far side of the group also looks big, maybe an auntie?
Another view of the four. Water beads up on their extremely dense fur.
Exploring the driftwood and checking out the spot where the big male spent some time. He might have been marking it with scent, declaring this his territory. Could also be a latrine, which for otters functions also as a source of news. I’ll check out that spot on a dry day.
One otter sees or hears something offshore. They all tumble back down to the water and zoom off.
This time they swam far out from the beach, chirping amongst themselves, audible a long ways across the water.
You might just be able to see them in the foreground of this view of the bay.
That’s an oil tanker in the strait beyond heading for the refinery in Anacortes. We worry about oil spills in the narrow channels of the Salish Sea. Just imagine what the sea would be like for an otter after an accident.
I never get to see otters swimming underwater, where they spend much of their time. They are fast and agile. When fishing they don’t stay underwater for more than a few minutes at a time but often I’ve seen otters dive and disappear from the bay altogether, covering a lot of distance unseen. Otters use their whole body to propel themselves, including their legs with those big webbed feet. Here’s a short video of two young rescue otters underwater I found at youtube.
After swimming all the way across the bay, this romp came ashore at the other end of the bay, shook themselves, and bounded up into the driftwood there, scouting the area before diving back into the water again.
Driftwood highway. They may have been planning to come up into the woods via the bulkhead stairway, but they’d have to pass by me. Plan B….
….back into the sea, nose along the bottom.
They swam around the bulkhead where I was standing. One dived for a fish and munched it en route. Small prey can be eaten in the water; big fish or crabs are taken onto shore to dismember.
Eventually they all came ashore down at the far end of the beach, about quarter mile away. There’s a den near there with a small tunnel through the bushes, might be their destination. The house beyond is unoccupied except a few weeks in summer. This is usually a very quiet beach and most of the time the otters and other wildlife have it to themselves. It was getting dark now so I left them to it, and headed back to my own den.
That’s my latest otter encounter. They are so fun to watch, all that energy, intelligence and playfulness in a beautiful fur coat. An infusion of life and awareness of the moment. Hope you enjoyed them too!
Time for you to share what you’re seeing in your natural neighborhood . . .
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