September 21Yesterday at the land, I went to see if a fresh crop of boletes had appeared.
No. The old ones looked well done, as did another grizzled grayhair,
The deadly amanita looked lively.
Today was another warm day with a brisk southwest wind. Since it was not the best conditions for sitting and waiting for otters, I had to think about where I should go. I decided to check the Great Swamp up on the plateau above the East Trail Pond and then check the ponds east of the third ponds, to see if otters have visited those ponds. Then on the way back I could check the Second Swamp Pond and Lost Swamp Pond. I stopped to sit briefly above Shangri-la Pond, which thanks to the recent rains has a channel of water three to six feet wide. However, no muskrats appeared. I was treated to the beeping chorus of a flock of nuthatches who worked the pines behind me. The Great Swamp also had plenty of water in it and I came down to the small pond just south of the swamp. Despite the water, I could see no otter
scats old or new in the most likely spot for a latrine, around a hole with bare ground around it.
The last time I approached the Great Swamp I sent a half dozen Great Blue Herons into flight. Today, I only flushed a doe resting in the tall vegetation along the shore. The last time I was hear I saw four osprey perching on the dead trees in the swamp. Today, one buzzard flew over me.
The only entertainment was provided by the monarch butterflies. I saw one riveted to a thistle's violet bloom. I couldn't get down to the point where the beavers came out from a hole in the ice last winter. The vegetation along the
shore was too thick, much of it flooded.
Though otters left their slides here in the winter, I've yet to see signs of them here in the summer and fall. I climbed back to the plateau along the edge of a huge granite heave. Tracking rocks is not a bad pastime here. I crossed the ski trail and then climbed up the granite ridge that looks down on the third ponds, as I've always called them. Facing south this rock front is dry, with sparse grasses,
crunchy mosses, and granite bulging all over, the muscular arm of the island. As I angled down to the swamps below, I kept turning back to try to grasp these rocks, in my mind at least.
I could see that there was water in the ponds east of the Third Pond.
I am not unfamiliar with this area but I've long had trouble enough keeping track of things in the watershed draining down to South Bay. This ponds drain to the Lake of the Isles some two miles from my haunts. However, now the watershed to South Bay from the Third Pond, through the East Trail, Otterhole, Beaver Point and the New ponds are all mostly dry. Getting around the last pond in this Lake of the Isles watershed is not easy. Over the years the beavers have done some heavy lumbering. Much of the fallen timber was so rotten that I could break through tangles of branches with a kick but the tree trunks strewn about in pickup-stick fashion were harder to negotiate. The beaver trails up from the pond were not grown over and higher up in the ridge I saw gnawing that might be recent and there was a cut maple sapling in the pond water. There is a large bank lodge but the water around it had not been deepened into a channel, and there was no other signs of recent use.
The water was clear. There was no obvious otter latrine along the shore so I moved down to the dam. There were trails crossing over but no scats, not even around or on a bank beaver lodge there. It was almost completely grown over with
vegetation. All around the pond the beavers had cut many large birches, which the beavers around here usually avoid. The crowns seemed to have been taken but the trunks were not stripped. The pond to the east of the dam was quite long
and two large flocks of geese and a small flock of ducks were enjoying it. The closest lodge that I could see was large with a slope of dirt unencumbered by sticks or vegetation, a perfect place for otters,
but through the spy glass I saw no scats on it. I walked back toward the Third Pond along the south shore of the last pond, and I began running into fresher and fresher beaver work, some ironwoods, maples and oaks. One cut tree had a full crown of dead leaves
and another almost cut tree had a crown of green leaves. The trails up from the pond seemed recently used. But the pond water was clear and I could not spot any evidence of beaver activity in the pond. Then I cross the embankment that separates the two watersheds, and looked down at the grass-filled
Third Pond around which there was no recent beaver work, and no sign of anything using the most convenient burrow along the shore of the pond.
I'll have to check my notes but when beavers were in the Third Pond, I think I recall that they didn't stray over into the other watershed. However, despite all the grasses in the pond, flying up from it was the first heron I had seen all day. I checked some promitories around the pond for otter scat and found none. I will come up here in the winter and see if otters use these ponds to go from the South Bay to the Lake of Isles watershed. I came down to the Second Swamp Pond at a point near the upper dam but where I could still get a view of the
pond. Only the wind played upon it. Because of the heat I was wearing shorts but my legs were saved from being scratched raw by some deer paths below the dam. Soon I was sitting by the Lost Swamp Pond, back to familiar territory, and here too the water seemed shallow and wasn't muddy at all, but I know that beavers, otters and muskrats live here. So perhaps there is more going over at those other ponds than at first meets the eye. Unfortunately, hunting season begins in a week and I'd be a fool
to stray over that far then. I checked the north shore of the pond for otter scats, and finding none began wondering if the otters had left the island, as they always seem to do periodically during the last few years. However, I found three fresh scats on and below the rock above the mossy cove.
The otters had just been there.
When I looked down the pond, I only saw geese, two of them on top of the lodge. To complete the tour of the large interior ponds I should have continued on to the Big Pond, but I had had my share of entangling vegetation for the day, and it was about 4:30, just the time I saw otters in the Second Swamp Pond a few days ago. So I went that way, but otters did not magically keep their appointment with me. The trip home was uneventful until I heard the hammering and saw a pileated woodpecker on the TI Park ridge. Despite all the territory I covered, I didn't learn that much save that its hard to get a handle on large swamp ponds that you don't visit on a regular basis. I may get the gumption to check the ponds closer to the Lake of the Isles, but in eleven years, I've done that just once, which is less a symbol of my being lazy than it is an indication of how entrancing the activity in the ponds I do visit has been.
September 22:
1994
On way back, crossing the Big Pond dam, we saw four otters swimming up toward us. We hid, hoping they would scoot up to the dam but the wind was at our backs and they started snorting at us and turned back.
2000
So I decided to go back via the Big Pond. Lucky me, as I scanned the Big Pond I saw an otter fishing over toward the grass on the south shore and then saw another otter fishing out in the middle of the pond. I was standing in the meadow below the pond, not the best vantage in many respects, but the wind was in my face and even as I walked closer to the pond the otters didn't notice me. Eventually both otters went toward the center of the pond, then I think one went down to the corner of the dam where I think they have a den. The other fished in front of me.
Once it got close to a heron out on a log and earned a loud croak from the heron. This pond has almost no logs in it and so the otter must have cruised almost a hundred yards gnawing a fish with its head, and sometimes paws up....
2003
I saw ripples a little to the right and a little beyond the lodge. I collapsed behind a pine trunk next to the [Audubon] pond (avoiding the otter scat behind me) and watched two otters, at least, swim to the lodge where they fished
around it parimeter, on each side. I was looking for three otters but had trouble, at first, making sure there were at least two. Finally one parked itself on a log, well out of the water, and worked on a big fish and the other swam nearby. Then I saw them together most of the time....
So I took my birthday hike to rendez-vous with otters trusting that I had a better than 30% chance of seeing them because I saw fresh scats at the Lost Swamp Pond yesterday. But I had no luck, and I went to the Big Pond and Audubon Pond, too. I saw what looked like fresh scratching up the moss on the side of the rock above the mossy cove latrine,
and I saw what could have been fresh scat at the foot of it. At least a ladybug seemed to think so, but the scat seemed very dry.
I found a mossy mat atop a rock with a good view of the Second Swamp Pond. No otters appeared, but an old trunk in the shade to my right intrigued me.
So I was left appreciating the nuances of the vegetation. Beaver Point Pond is now most soldier reed with few burr marigolds.
It has been dry for a few years, but dampness didn't turn the East Trail Pond all yellow, and along the shore of Audubon Pond the reeds have established themselves.
There was no fresh scat there, but I did notice some curious remains on the bench that could have been left by an otter, but more likely a raccoon.
As I walked around the pond, I did see evidence that the beaver had been cutting ash and trimming the ash crown hanging out over the pond. Then down at the docking rock, I found new scats, and probably relatively fresh but dried out quickly by the sun and stiff southwest winds we've been having. There was a fish spine nearby, but I have seen that before, and big carp scales that I haven't seen before.
So, have the otters moved back to the bay?
September 23 a cold front came through with a slight drizzle and enough chill to keep us out of the river. I took a short hike with Leslie to show her how the otters used the marsh and island point in South Bay, and to see if the otters might have visited their old haunts, just as they visited the docking rock in South Bay in the last few days. Our first stop was the beaver lodge under the willow tree where it was hard to be certain if the beavers were still there. Probably are because there is still enough water and at least one willow log looked freshly cut and gnawed, and judging from my photographic record it wasn't here on September 10.
No signs that otters have been there recently. Then we filed through the towering cattails and checked the secluded rock so ideal for otters to dry off on in the early summer when the marsh is wet. And there were some new and
relatively fresh scats there. Then out on the rock facing South Bay, where I had seen the pups many weeks ago, there were not only fresh scats but a huge bullhead head with a fresh scat right next to it.
Talk about a belated birthday present, I was overjoyed, having never seen that telling juxtaposition before and having never seen a head that big.
Bullheads don't get much bigger up here. Leslie headed home and I went up to the Lost Swamp Pond on a rare mission for me. To help my theories along, I was expecting not to find otters nor fresh scats, to prove that the family of otters I watch oscillates between the ponds and the bay. There was a large gaggle of geese in the pond,
and this time they didn't fly off (it has been a rather quiet goose hunting season, I think because there are not that many geese around, fewer hatched this spring for reasons I'm not sure of.) And I didn't see any fresh scats, let alone otters in the pond. I also checked the north shore, and pondered the Second Swamp Pond for a few minutes -- I should make an effort to find an otter latrine around this pond because if they don't have one that would be rather rare and significant. We also saw an osprey over the bay and were rewarded with angry croaks as we walked under a heron's perch. As we walked on the island, we heard some scurrying in the bush -- probably a raccoon. However, it's likely the otters den somewhere nearby but my guess is that they are in the marsh. They must have fashioned places to den there when it was wet and now that it is dry, it's probably even more comfortable. On the island we found a nice hole going into dirt under the roots of a fallen pine, but as the pups grow such tight dens must seem less attractive.
September 27 the remnants of Hurricane Rita blew through giving us another 2 1/2 inches of rain, and some exhilerating and warm breezes. Before the blow we both noticed that the monarchs were no longer mining the lode of nectar in our inner valley. But I noticed another black and orange butterfly that took their place, half the size of a monarch and not as many. On the eve of the onslought I took a spin in the kayak and noticed shiners jumping in our cove, which I don't recall seeing before. As I kayaked up the headland, I saw shiners jumping all the way along the docks and rocks. I have seen shiners jump especially on warm days at this time of year, but I've never seen so many and over such a large area. I went out around the shoals and didn't see any there. And at the swimming cove, the
shallowest area, I saw the most and as I turned to paddle out, a good 25 jumped out at once!
With sunshine back today we first worked at the land, where I saw the doe and a fawn. No signs of any beavers returning, nor of muskrat activity. I took a photo of the Deep Pond to show how the watermilfoil spread everywhere.
Let's see if a beaver comes in to eat it. When we got back home, I headed off to the Lost Swamp Pond to try to get in touch with the otters again. I reasoned that the wind and rain would send the otter family back to the ponds. Of course, I wanted to see them so I sat a bit to wait for something to materialize. The wind was still a bit gusty which gives the impression of activity, but I saw only a few geese grooming and floating lazily way up at the southeast end of the pond. It looked like the beavers had started a cache pile in the far lodge, but going off to the northeast, the direction most difficult for me to see.
I checked the mossy cove latrine for otter scats and saw nothing new. So I walked around the pond explaining to myself why it was more reasonable to expect the otters to enjoy the rain and wind in the South Bay marsh! Then at the north slope, just up from the thick grasses that rim the pond, I saw several new scats
and at least two of them looking very fresh.
I gladly reembraced my original theory, especially after I saw more fresh scats on the rocks between the rolling area and the dam.
That sat me down again to see if otters might suddenly appear. None did, and as I stood to go home, a noisy pileated woodpecker flew just above my head -- never had that happened before. It latched high up on a gray-dead tree trunk and the setting sun seemed to set its comb afire. Sometimes nature just seems to show off. I went down to the Upper Second Swamp Pond and despite all the water the pond did not seem that much higher. I didn't see any fresh beavers work along the dam near me, so I studied the shore near the new lodge and saw what might be a freshly cut and collected tree crown, probably maple, then a beaver surfaced, looking so sleak it could be mistaken for an otter. It seemed to check the dam, and them hump over and dive into the water, scrounging around the bottom. Seemed to come up empty handed and saw quickly over to the fresh work and dove again. This time it came up with a stick in it mouth and as it saw over toward its lodge loss any resemblance to an otter. The rain brought mushrooms out everywhere and I decided the most startling were the white mushrooms in the dark woods.
September 28 I got a late start this morning, but cockily thought that might just get to the ponds in time to see the otters lounging on top of a beaver lodge. Indeed, I took the slow way to the Lost Swamp Pond, going via the meadow behind the golf course. I haven't been that way in a while due to the heat, and I wanted a bite of some apples. The few apples remaining on the tree at the end of the meadow were rotting, but the tree in the middle of the ridge had plenty of beauties, easy to pick, the best year I can remember for this untended tree. I ate one and a half, and then rather enjoyed the sounds up on this drier high ground. A towhee was quite vociferous, and I heard snatches of warbler song amidst the chattering of chickadees and sparrows. Only the goldfinch seem less abundant, perhaps because there is so much less milkweed, mullein and burdock. Seven years ago an ash in the drier part of this ridge split in two with each half about three feet off the ground. Both ends survived and this year the principal "branches" on each horizontal trunk seemed to achieve tree status themselves, thick with a well
organized crown of leaves.
Then going down into the dark valley where a rivulet begins that flows down to the Double Lodge Pond, I saw the bones of a large deer spread out on the soft green moss.
Nature showing off again. The bones looked fresh but they were rather gnawed over so, unless some coyotes felt the need to overcome a calcium deficiency, they must have been worked over when the relative scarcity of food in the winter makes bones a good meal. I also saw a pileated woodpecker, rather quiet in the shade of one of the smaller trees in the valley -- just the opposite of the show off I saw last night. I finally got down to the Big Pond and while I didn't see an otter, I saw that the grasses at the south end of the dam had been tramped down,
and in the middle of the tramping was not only otter scat but what appeared to be a scent mound.
I haven't seen one of them in a couple months. There were old scats on this scent mound, and some not so old. In the grass next to it there appeared to be a fresh scat -- with all the rain we've had just seeing something moist doesn't necessarily make it fresh. So I sat on my perch and waited, hoping that an otter might stir from its bed atop the beaver lodge, or come out from its den inside. No such luck. Crossing the dam was easy thanks to the deer making trails and the smartweed dying with only a few pink spikes reaching for the blue sky. I saw some old mud that might have been pushed up by a beaver, but nothing else, and there is a little leak in the dam. I assume the beavers are still up at the pond above. With the vegetation now down, I got a good view of two platforms dug into the dam.
I think the muskrats do this, but I wouldn't put it past the beavers too. At the north end of the dam, the water was muddy -- perhaps the muskrats are staying in the burrows here. Then I looked for closed gentian which I usually find here, and I didn't see any. Since there was a good south wind, sometimes for the southeast, presaging another front of rain and then cold, I tried to stay away from the Lost Swamp Pond as much as I could until I got up the high rocks right at the crook of the pond which gives a pretty good view of everything. I
saw more geese, but not otters. I checked the high rocks and the low rock further up pond, but saw no fresh scats, and the old scats had been washed away. I did see some freshly stripped logs left by beavers along the shore, and some new ones jerked up on
the lodge too.
But the sun was so bright, it was hard to evaluate the age of logs in the glare. Then we I got back down to the mossy cove latrine, the smell of fresh scat hit me, and the array was so moist that it seemed to still be dripping down the
rocks, a tree trunk and grass.
I knew this was deposited since 6pm last night and couldn't help thinking it had been deposited in the last hour.
But there were no otters to be seen. I checked the north slope latrine and there was nothing new. Then I went over the ridge and checked the Second Swamp Pond, no otters. I waited a bit longer and concluded that high noon was not the time to see these otters. At least I had an opportunity to see if they visited their latrines in the South Bay marsh, while also paying respects to the Lost Swamp Pond. So I took a beeline to the now accessable island, the path through the eight foot high cattails only having a puddle here and there. It was worth the trip. Not
only were there no fresh otter scats anywhere, but almost all of the old scats were washed away or at least washed white. The otters had not been here. So where were they? Two herons gave me a clue. I saw one fly up from the shallows at the upper end of the Big Pond, and one from the upper end of the Lost Swamp Pond. I have to assume that the otters are busy in the smaller ponds above these big ponds, that, or they simply take a long nap after their morning fishing.
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