September 24 sunny, breezy, in the low 60s, and off I went to the East Trail Pond looking for the otters. I went over the ridge to Otter Hole Pond first and there were no otters, nor signs of otters. We had an inch or so of rain, not enough to make a difference in the pond. I crossed below the dam and didn't
notice any out flow. I last saw the otters in the East Trail Pond and so came down to it with great anticipation. I sat under the pine below the dam for a half hour and saw the usual kingfisher, and a flock of bluejays, plus at least one flicker. One vulture also flew high over the pond. There were no new scats near the dam, but there was a large one on the rock beside the bird remains.
Also it was easy to see the the bird bones had been gnawed again
-- presumably by otters. As I moved on I turned to take a photo of that corner of the pond where the otters are so found of leaving things.
There were no other scats in the usual places. Since I was curious to see if otters had been in the Lost Swamp Pond -- I am looking for three different family combinations, I headed off in that direction. Crossing below the dam I saw that the turtle head flowers continue to prosper and nothing has harvested the red jack-in-the-pulpit berries. I checked the area on the other end of the dam where I had seen the otters go up two days ago. I couldn't find any scat but the beavers have been up over there, leaving one sapling half in the pond. There was also some fresh mud on top of the bank lodge.
Nights have not been cold enough to warrant this, but with otters around why shouldn't the beavers want to patch some holes? Up on the ridge the beaver trail led to fresh girdling on trees that had been gnawed last year.
I went to the knoll overlooking the Second Swamp Pond bank lodge. On the way I passed a crop of chicken of the woods high up on a living oak tree.
Going over the knoll, I saw more clearing away of the vervain and pilewort on top of the lodge, and two more beaver stripped sticks floating in the water. Going up the north side of the swamp, I saw more branches trimmed off the fallen ash. The rain yesterday did make a difference in the upper pond. Once again it has enough water to float a beaver, but no sign that a beaver had been there. I had my camcorder ready as I went up to the Lost Swamp Pond because I expected to find otters. I heard an osprey scream and saw a heron fly off, and then watched
the wind play on the pond. No otters nor signs of them. The beavers have taken advantage of the three trees blown down by the wind.
While I was lying on the bank at the old rolling area, I thought I heard a beaver humming in the lodge by the dam. Over at the new bank lodge, there were no stripped sticks around. Perhaps the beavers have moved. There were a good
number of geese in the far end of the pond. One climbed on top of the lodge there which set off some discussion among the geese who gravitated toward the lodge. I continued on to the Big Pond, and here too I had nothing but the wind to watch. The long dam had been crossed at several points, and where I saw beaver stripped sticks a few days ago, I saw even more.
It looked to me like otters might have been thrashing around too, but I saw no scat at all. The lack of otter signs is disappointing. I can assume that the otters I last saw are still in the East Trail Pond, but I will have to extend my range to account for all the otter families I've seen this summer. I sat briefly and enjoyed a spray of purple asters in the nearby meadow.
I went home via the apple tree. I did get one to eat but was amazed to find the harvest I had expected all blown off the tree and then eaten by the deer. Indeed I flushed two fawns and a doe on my way through the brush to the tree. Finally I admired an ash that had been split down the middle during the ice storm in January 1998. Now two nice sized ash trunks are coming straight out of the split trunks.
September 25 rain in the morning and much wind, then it cleared up with enough wind to require a jacket in case I got pinned down in the shade watching otters. I set off for Audubon Pond, pausing first to see a small dead garter snake
with its tail nipped off, and then to admire a group of blister beetles munching on a leaf
and up to other things too, evidently
Yet another came in to wrestle with these three, which I captured on video. I also checked the New Pond knoll for scat and found one near that pond that seemed to smear out on bird feathers
and I noticed this small red fly in the ointment too, perhaps a dung fly
This is the second bit of bird remains I've found, different birds, and both associated with otter scats. I forgot to mention that I've been seeing a hawk in these ponds, and the hawk probably killed the bird and otters lapped up some of the remains. After all that excitement, Audubon Pond only
featured a chattering kingfisher, quiet heron and a hawk that did a couple laps around the pond. There were no fresh signs of otters. The beaver may have made another mark on the shore below the bench, but it had just rained and it was difficult to tell if the marking was really fresh or just wet. I walked up to the
Short-cut Trail pond and took the time to look over the dam thick with vegetation in case there remained a pool that the otters might have raided, but the little vegetation there looked completely undisturbed and the little water around the stalks
quite clear. I went up to Meander Pond which still has water and looks quite undisturbed. More maples were down at Thicket Pond, one presenting a perfect picture of beaver work.
I went up the East Trail so I could peak down on both the upper East Trail Pond and Shangri-la Pond. Both were low on water, though beavers and otters could still forage in the former. Going down the ridge toward the bridge, I saw a freshly cut tree blocking the trail -- good work beavers. Then as I crossed the bridge I saw a an otter swimming in the large pool of water just off the East Trail Pond, I ducked down on my knees and enjoyed watching an otter eat a large fish.
Then the swirling gusting wind gave me away and the otter, fish is mouth, dove and swam back into the main pond. Still crouched, I moved up the slope north of the pond to get the wind between me and the otter, and still have a good view if it came back. Then I heard the otter chirping from the pond, close to the lodge. I saw bubbles before me and another otter surfaced. The chirping moved to the upper end of the pond. Then in a few seconds the first otter swam back into the pond, reunited with the other otter, which looked smaller, and they both swam into
the upper end of the pond where grasses abound. I am pretty sure this was a mother corraling her pup. Indeed when I saw the mother and pup in this pond about a month ago, they swam out of this back pool of the pond. I waited another hour for either their return or for them to climb up on the lodge, but I never saw them.
I have not been to the north shore of the pond in some time, so I climbed the ridge to see if there was any more beaver work up there. No. I checked the bank lodge on that end of the pond, and saw no sure sign that beavers were inside. I continued around the pond and then took a well used path up the little hill between the two branches of the series of little ponds I call the Third Pond. I found a old frog's head, but much more beaver work, including two of a trio of large birches recently cut down by the beavers.
I cut over to the Second Swamp Pond through the damp woods, skirting the huge rock more or less shaped like a whale, which brought me down to the long stalled poplar project of the Second Swamp Pond beavers. I could see that quite a while ago they finished another cut, which didn't bring the poplar down, and they gave up. I also got a glimpse of a large bird with white horizontal stripes on its tail -- perhaps a cuckoo. There were also blue jays working the dense understory. Still no sign that a beaver went up to the replenished upper pond. And up at the Lost Swamp Pond nothing was happening, save for two kingfishers briefly contesting a tree, but I found some subtle changes. There was a relatively fresh otter scat on a log on the north slope,
so I think there are other otters than the two I've been seeing. There was more beaver work on the maple the hurricane blew down. I ended the tour by sitting for 15 minutes at Otter Hole Pond, enjoying the wind and sun. No sign that
otters had been through.
September 27 a ridiculously warm, windy day. I've just come in from a swim in the river where, with a strong southwest wind blowing all night and day, the water is opaque from churning. Late morning Leslie and I went out to find the otters. First we were surprised by the vehemence of this blossoming of mushrooms along the TI Park trail
Looking at it, I thought it had been eaten, butin the photo it looks more like it is simply bursting at the seams. Just after showing off the dead snake on the South Bay trail, we saw a live watersnake slithering over the causeway
And then as I was going up the East Trail, Leslie let out a cry of excitement as I walked past a milk snake coiled up and hissing at me
How I missed this critter, I know not. Last night was one of our warmer nights so perhaps its the prolonged warmth that has the snakes on the run. The strong, gusty wind always makes it problematical approaching a pond. I had the wind coming more from the west, and so approached the East Trail Pond from the ridge down to the dam, but really the wind was at my back. I saw a head in the pond and a ripple, and waved Leslie up sure it was an otter, then I saw nothing more. It may have gotten a whiff of me and fled, or I may have mistaken something else in the water for an otter. We moved around to the hill on the east shore, more out of the wind, and once there we saw a snapping turtle, perhaps two mating, once doming out of the water and then a beaver appeared curling through the pond until we lost it
heading to the grasses in the north end of the pond. The beavers continue to make the bank lodge by the dam more liveable with fresh wood patching the holes that seemed so serviceable at times back in the late winter.
They are bringing down branches to eat and beginning to litter the area with nibbled sticks.
Plus watching the wind play on the pond is always a pleasure. Briefly a hawk flew over. Then a family of geese moved out from the northeast corner of the pond. Two large geese and four smaller ones, perhaps one of the two families I
saw in this pond in the spring.
I toured the shore for scat and found nothing fresh, but there was some old scat near the old rolling area that the otters' fancied two years ago. As we climbed the ridge we began noticing birds, many dull warblers with a white patch on their rump, and a few handsome yellow headed warblers. I didn't get a good photo, so we will mull over this identification. I take great pleasure in showing off the Thicket Pond and right at the end of the pond the beavers had freshly cut into an ash
(which they had been ignoring thus far this season.) I consider ash a very dry tree but this had attracted two large hornets, as well as a few smaller insects.
The beavers are taking more ash near the lodge, and the lodge is looking quite handsome.
We continued on to Audubon Pond, and no otters were there, and no fresh scats. More painted turtles than usual sunning on the usual log provided the only excitement
September 28 rain last night and as the sun came out in the afternoon I headed for the ponds. Once again there was a milk snake on the small causeway of the South Bay trail
It didn't react as I walked by it so I nudged it and proved it alive -- just two feet long. I took the short cut up and over to Otter Hole Pond. Something had moved through the grasses by the dam -- no scats around, so probably raccoons or a deer made the swath. I took the photo below because I was amazed that the green slime had come back to life
I lounged a bit in my old perch, and a woodpecker with an unfamiliar call flew to the trees above me, right where the sun was, so I didn't get a good look at it. Though it was early, I also sat awhile on the rock at the south
end of the Second Swamp Pond dam. I could see beaver stripped sticks by the dam and lodge, but no beaver appeared. A heron flew over. No kingfishers today, could they have migrated? I checked the mossy cove for otter scat -- none there, but as I moved up to sit at the crook of the pond, I saw something large on the lodge in the far end of the pond. It had gone over to the side of the lodge that I couldn't see. I've been seeing geese on the lodge, but the nearest geese were in the far end of the pond, and this apparition seemed more agile than a goose. So I sat and waited to
see if it might be an otter. Some 20 minutes later a large otter climbed on top of the lodge and with tail wagging scatted. I didn't grab a camera, first hoping to see other otters so I could determine how many were out there. The otter went back on the
other side of the lodge and I waited 30 minutes for an otter to appear again. I grabbed the camera but it had hopped back out of view before I got a photo. This otter seemed smaller than the other. The sun was going down which I hoped would spur the otters to action, but it didn't. After 30 minutes of waiting in vain, I walked further up the pond, but still couldn't get a good view of the other side, and the otters might have gone into the lodge. I did find otter scat on a rock along the edge of the pond.
I did have some distractions as I waited. A flock of chattering blackbirds formed in the trees behind me and then swirled across the pond. A male wood duck flew in sporting handsome plumage
When groups of geese flew off that didn't neglect raining poop down on the pond. And a small doe started snorting behind me.
It moved off, then started snorting and stamping her feet again. That time I had the camcorder ready. With many a backward glance at the lodge I moved around the pond. The rain brought out a handsome mushroom.
No beavers had come out, and after stopping to photograph some fresh otter scat on the north slope (the red is a leaf)
I went up to the beaver lodge, noting a few stripped logs on and around it.
Crossing the upper Second Swamp Pond dam I noticed a small hole in it, with water draining. Will the beavers patch it? There is also more activity at the Second Swamp Pond lodge.
After I took a photo of it, I noticed a beaver swimming up from the dam dragging a branch. I followed it with the camcorder and it noticed me, dropping the branch, swimming a bit closer, turning and banging its tail twice. I moved on, hoping to see some action at the East Trail Pond before it got dark. That pond was all quiet and no fresh scat that I could see. So I assume the two otters who were here moved over to the Lost Swamp -- though the first otter I saw there, looked mighty large.
September 29 After a cool cloudy morning, which I spent collecting firewood on our land, the sun came out. I thought of going out in the boat but the wind came up fiercely, so I off I went toward the Lost Swamp Pond to pick up where I
left off. I veered in along the first swamp ridge, aiming to check the Big Pond for otter scats. In the mostly dry pond below Double Lodge Pond, I saw a snapping turtle making its slow way over the dead grass heading for the pond above. It found a pool
of water amongst the grass, and after I got too close, sank into the water and mud rather neatly
much to the relief, I suppose, of the leeches riding on its tail. I found trails up to and through the Big Pond dam, but no otter scats there, nor in the usual spot beside the dam. Nor did I see any freshly minted beaver sticks. I did see some weeds that might have been collected by a beaver. Making my way through the meadow below the dam, much easier now
I saw two closed gentian plants below all the brush
So rare a sight that it deserves another photo. Over twenty years ago someone alerted us that they were there, but for the last several dry years I haven't seen any.
I went to the Lost Swamp Pond to follow my rule of going first to where I last saw the otters. I saw immediately that there was a new dispensation. Geese were on the lodge that otters had all to themselves yesterday
I waited in vain for otters, but I did see a diving duck. When I moved closer to get a better video, it did not dive head first but seemed to sink with wings out. Then I saw a wake like it was swimming under water, and I didn't see it again. As I checked the shore for scat, I noticed the mushroom below which seemed to have had its head clipped off
Then I saw two other mushroom sporting the same cap, or button.
When I got around to the blown down trees, which the beavers continue to browse, I saw three blasted milkweed pods on the path the beavers use.
Perhaps they couldn't resist taking a bite, or their tail ruffled the pods the wrong way, but three in a row suggests something other than an accident. I'd say that in the main, they are principally eating bark now and not dragging away limbs.
Although there was no fresh otter scat, the pond was so beautiful I lingered near the dam. Then I hurried on to see if by chance the otters went back to the East Trail Pond, but first I went to check the Second Swamp and it looked like a cache pile was starting to be built
I only had fifteen minutes to sit up on the hill over looking the East Trail Pond. The kingfiisher was back but I saw no otter. I walked down the hill and as I walked above the bank beaver lodge, two beavers swam out. The
first with a big wake and the second with a much more modest ripple. I waited to see if they would surface and eventually I saw the smaller one taking its usual round about route to the back of the pond. I decided to cross the dam and saw a few areas
where beavers had probably bellied down the grasses, then I saw three snail shells which seemed worth a photo
As I stood back up, I saw a black body slither up the lodge -- clearly an otter, but it went over on the other side of the lodge and I didn't see it again, despite waiting another ten minutes. My mind reels: did the big beaver swim into the lodge in the middle of the pond and force the otter out? I'll go to the pond tomorrow morning. I've been noticing the crane flies litterly biting the dust
I did appreciate their glittery gold fan fare as summer ended.
September 30 the wind had not exactly died down but there were no white caps so I took the boat over to South Bay. As usual I took a peak at Audubon Pond first, and all seemed quiet there. Then I took the South Bay trail to the East Trail and then up to the East Trail Pond. There were things going on -- a small hawk, the kingfish pounding the shallows where the otters should have been, four wood ducks flew in, male and female, I heard two pileated woodpeckers, weird raven noises unless it was a blue jay showing its vocal prowess. Then the small beaver swam
in from the shallow end of the pond and with a few stops went to the bank lodge. A few small birds flew by including some juncos. Down at the dam, a dead tree toppled over across the mud where I look for otter tracks, plus a beaver had left a sapling. I noticed some trails in the tall grass going over the dam
and assumed beavers made them. Scanning for otter scats, I finally noticed some tiny ones on the log two feet off the ground
rather fresh. Then over where the bird remains are, I found more small scats around the rock
and one large one in the grass
I got the notion that otters made those paths over the dam and they were fresh and the otters obviously heading for Otter Hole Pond, so I broke my rule about prolonging a vigile whenever I found fresh scat, and I went over the ridge to Otter Hole Pond. The first thing I noticed was that the pond, not too deep to begin with, had lost half its water. Last night when I headed for home I noticed a generous flow of water in the creek draining into South Bay, and thought it was just a case of the rain finally bringing the ponds back up to a level allowing them
to drain. Now I realized the otters had reopened the hole. First I saw a heron fly off, then I saw the otters working the mud and bringing their catch up on logs. First I always want to get some video, just in case the otters notice me and flee. Then I try to figure out how many they are. I saw one on a log while two others were leaping on to each other in playful abandon, growling a bit too. And there was at least another fishing nearby. Then three went on the lodge and I think I could account for two others. Then all of them moved up into the shallows
The sun glare made seeing them and photographing them difficult. Since it was hard for me to see them, I assumed it was hard for them to see me, so I moved closer, careful to keep behind a tree. I also noticed that they kept in two groups. A group of three moved back down toward the dam where they both fished independently
and in a group
and I got the impression that I was seeing a mother and two pups, though when all three went to the grassy mound now exposed beside the lodge, they all pranced like nimble youth
but I've noticed that when they get into this feeding frenzy, the older otters seem as playful as the pups at times. I waited for their next prance on the grass to try to get a photo with the camera
and managed to capture a scat
Meanwhile the other two otters, who acted like a mother and a pup, worked the mud before me, frequently climbing on logs to eat. By being so close they were effectively concealed by the tall grass along the edge of the pond. The group of three didn't stay on the lodge much at all, and kept going back to the same area nearer the dam
Indeed once one of them scooted up on the dam and quickly came back down. Of course I was in seventh heaven. Seeing five of them in two groups can account for my recent sightings, but I'll have to hope for more encounters -- I
wouldn't be surprised if another otter or two joins them. I am sure I was seeing pups as they did all the odd jobs -- stealing fish from mother, and playing almost as much as they fished. Eventually all five went near the lodge, some went on it, but
briefly. Then as a group they began swimming up pond, and I feared they would reach the point where the cross wind would reveal my scent. So I retreated and let them be. The many winds we had blew a warbler's nest out of one of the tall pines by the
East Trail Pond
There was a small feather in it and a strange looking chow mein in the bottom of it. Going home the wind had whipped up the waves, which suited my mood perfectly -- fueled by five otters, I was flying.
October 1 a chilly day with a constant threat of showers, and a few sprinkles. I went to Otter Hole Pond to see what kind of hole was in the dam. As I eased down the hill to the pond, I saw that an otter was fishing in it in the upper end of the pond. I eased on down to the edge of the pond and soon saw that there were two otters, and they behaved much like the two I had been seeing in the East Trail Pond, foraging independently most of the time, and chasing fish in the water. At first they stayed in the upper end of the pond concealed by the stumps of
old bushes
leaving to gauge how shallow the pond was by the expanse of exposed mud between me and the lodge.
Finally they got closer to me, but never really posed long enough for a camera shot. The brief pause to eat just off the lodge, pictured below, is the best I got.
Yesterday the two otters off by themselves seemed more circumspect, but I assume having the other three otters around subdued them, so that this was the same pair I saw yesterday. Like yesterday, and other days, they were on and off the lodge in an instant, constantly on the move. A kingfisher flew in at one point, seemed to take one look at the shallow water, cackled in protest and flew off. When the otters moved up pond, I eased on down to the dam and kept low behind the grasses though I was confident the wind would give me away. The water was still flowing generously. At first glance it looked like there was some dam left
but once on my knees thrusting camera in the hole, I could see that the hole was considerable
As best I can tell the otters dug as deeply as the could, clawing out all the mud the beavers had packed into the dam over the years since the last breech the otters made in the winter, which, on this dam, was a few years ago. The hole reminded me a lot of the hole in the Big Dam last winter, deep as possible, a real drainer. (One beaver repaired that in a matter of a few days at most.) Peering over the dam, it seemed like the otters had fled, so I took a look at the other side
I would say that a week ago the water level was up at the grass line. The water below the dam was shallow, clear and quiet
I was amazed that the otters were getting anything out of it. Of course they stuck close to the logs and old stumps in the water. There were several fresh scats on the dam,
and a close up seems to show many fish parts
but I am no expert and it will be easier to see all that when the black goo holding it all together is washed away. There were also raccoon scats on top of the dam, and their prints along the newly exposed mud apron. All the otter prints were in the mud near the hole. As I walked up the north shore of the dam, I didn't see the otters. I went to the East Trail Pond which was quiet. There was fresh scat under the scat on the log that I saw yesterday
so the otters are probably vibrating from pond to pond. As I was watching the otters in Otter Hole Pond, I was under a small pine that kept humming the whole time I was there, full of bees.
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