September 15 yesterday I went to Picton Island in the boat and rowed around the quarry to check for otter scats. No scats, but the cormorants were there, several in the water and about twenty on one of the small rocks sticking out of the water. They were pretty skittish and soon flew off. This is actually the first good chance I've had to observe them. They obviously like to be together but then you see one off alone standing on a rock drying its wings. As we headed back across Eel Bay (my brother Bill was with me) across largely still water we saw a large flock of cormorants in an area of water where there were ripples. Seagulls, about a dozen of them, were flying over head. Several of the cormorants seemed to make shallow dives. When I motored over the birds left - I fancied I could smell fish but I couldn't see any. Were they after one of those leaping schools of little fish that you see so often this time of year?
This morning I went out to check the ponds. We had some rain last night, cloudy morning, breezy, but no rain. The New Pond had its usual leak. Is part of the problem (if there is a problem) the fact that the beavers can't patch the bottom of the dam? I saw a large ripple on Beaver Point Pond but it didn't materialize into anything. Another freshly stripped beaver log by the dam lodge. Some ducks on Otter Hole pond. The first thing I saw on the Lost Swamp pond was a cormorant, or the cormorant, because I only see one, imitating a stick. Later I saw what looked like an otter's dive but since I never saw it again and saw no otter, it must have been the cormorant diving like an otter! (I haven't looked at the video yet.) The cormorant soon got out on a log to dry it wings. In the swamps, it seems like an especially big bird.
As I approached it fled in an interesting way. It dove into the water, making quite a splash, then flew up slowly rising and went to the other arm of the pond landing where it could still see me. No mergansers today. The osprey flew off from the big dead tree. A kingfisher was also fishing. No herons. Today ants and aphids were feasting on the milkweed.
No otters, as I said, but there was plenty of otter scat. Several fresh piles on the north shore and at the mossy cove, a simply beautiful array of black scat on the soft bright green. O to have seen the otter family there! But no luck. There were no scats at the logs where the otters had been before, but a few scats on the grassy area above the muskrat den there. Is this a sign that these otters are not the same as the three that spent so much time on those logs? I went down the surveying trail to the Big Pond - no ducks that I could see - the brisk winds can play across this pond and it had been breezy. I went to the old lodge and the water around it was muddy, but that area is so flooded and grassy I certainly couldn't see scats if the otters had been there. I crossed the dam - me and a few deer still manage it. I saw this curious seed on one plant coming up between the reeds. Leslie says its the fruit of the wild onion plant I saw.
I can't recollect noticing it before. I couldn't see any otter signs along the dam except at the end, one very old fish part (unless it was from the dead fawn nearby.) The grass seemed used but no scats. There were lots of birds on the ridge - towhee, deedees, sparrows, wrens, flicker. I tried to pick some apples on the way home. The tree on the ridge has large and nice apples, I ate one, but could only coax down three more. The trees in the meadow have smaller apples. Perhaps Ottoleo will be able to climb up and shake some down. Time's awasting since I could see some were beginning to rot.
September 17 a strong west wind all day. After going to the land in the early afternoon, the wind gnawed on me and I went out to the ponds thinking it might have driven the otters into them. The wind certainly had the deer confused, I got very close to several of them. I took the short cut to Otter Hole pond. Nothing there or on Beaver Point pond, except in the dry upper pond of Otter Hole, the marsh marigold are blooming thickly. I went up to the Lost Swamp and was charmed by three gentle ducks, one with striking white around its eyes.
No otters. I went back the New Pond. As I approached from Beaver Point I saw a beaver's wake near the dam. I waited but there was no action on the dam or on that side of the pond. As I went around to go up on the ridge in front of the pond, a deer got up from the ground a few yards before me. It didn't run off; licked itself, scratched its nose, got some quite bites.
An animal that doesn't run off seldom looks healthy. But at this time of year the coat is supposed to be splotchy. It never did run off and I saw it eating vines and leaves. When I got up to the ridge, getting a vantage on the other side of the pond, I didn't see anything. I saw some ripples coming from the north side of the pond, but I couldn't see the beaver. Then I heard some "uhs"; finally a beaver swam out where I could see it then quickly ducked into the downed trees at the end of the pond. It was as if the beavers were concentrating on getting all the nourishment they could out of this end of the pond. A small maple had just been taken down on a spot on the ridge nearby me and another maple stood nearby. I relocated down close to the pond under a large rotting tree trunk. Then I saw some bobbing black thing in the middle of the pond - it actually took a minute to see that the black thing was the end of a beaver tail, then I saw the beaver. Another beaver swam to the back. I had just about decided that this was not my night (and I had to get home for dinner) when a beaver swam to my end of the pond, parked itself behind a tree very near me, and gnawed on an already gnawed stick. I got great close-ups of its hand manipulating the stick.
Meanwhile four little beavers swam up to the large one, one after another, one uhhed and one or two swam up to get a sniff of me. Finally one made an awkward attempt to splash. True to the form of little beavers they swam very fast. Finally the adult beaver came over to pay some attention to me. This did not look like the older beaver I am familiar with. It dove and swam off and then I saw the little beavers, one after another, swimming over toward the dam. I remember times last year at Beaver Point Pond when the young beavers would get quite excited by me and the old timer was bored by my presence. This reminded me of that. I had almost decided that the colony had fewer young this year, not four. But this flotilla of little ones made me doubt that.
September 18 the wind calmed down and so did the river. It was impossible to resist going out in the kayak. I went over to Eel Bay to see what the cormorants might be up to. I didn't see any over there, and I took binoculars so I could get a good look. However three flew off of Granite Slate shoal as I came out of our cove (I saw one near the island yesterday during the wind storm.) As I paddled across South Bay, one flew out high coming from the swamps. On my way back I notice two or three on the rocks off the headland and then another two or three on the rocks near the ship channel. The cormorants seem quite jumpy. Jumpier than herons - I paddled quite close to a couple of them. Two cormorants seemed to cruise just off the rock perches. I'll have to make more observations than this, but I am impressed with how jumpy they are. I should add that on those rocks there were many more gulls. Why were there none in Eel Bay? Were the ones I saw the other day, the large flock, migrators? Flying low over our the grass above our dock was a small fog of midges.
September 19 warm sunny day and I went out to the ponds. I didn't see the bucks in the meadow but did flush a small doe from her bed under some trees. She gave me a long look. Then it was a matter of scaring two fawns here and another there. The birds were noisy today led by the crows and blue jays. I saw a snakeskin.
An interesting chain of events when I came down to the Middle Pond. A deer leapt at the sight of me and that sent two ducks who were foraging on land leaping into the water. Then they saw me and flew off. It's nice to know that deer can scare ducks too. The pond looked like muskrats had been around, but I didn't see any. There were a few large ducks at the far end of the Big Pond. I hurried on to the Lost Swamp and found it filled with geese - a couple hundred easy. I approached slowly enough so that they moved away slowly. There were a few ducks mixed in with them. I sat on a rock and tried to reconcile myself to not seeing otters again - a process of opening myself up to the pond and not concentrating on every ripple. Three crows were in the big dead tree not three osprey. A kingfisher dived in the distance. No cormorant today, unless it was lurking amidst the geese. A flicker was quite active in the middle of the pond, dancing up and down a tree, then drinking and then flying high up in the dead tree branches like a waxwing. A green heron flew in and perched high up on the dead tree (the crows had gone.) Then I saw some ripples creeping in their fashion around the bend - I was across from the mossy scatting grounds of the otter and thus low beside the pond. Two ducks came around the bend, saw me and fled. Only then did I check for scats and sure enough there were fresh scats, even a brown mucousy one ,
these were fly fresh scats, so I missed them once again. There was nothing fresh at the north shore, nor at the dam, not at the "rolling area" where there seemed to be a fresh path up the hill - nothing at the end of the path. No scats at the stump above the little upper Second Swamp pond. On the way to Otter Hole I admired the spots in the swamp where the marsh marigold was blooming. Last year the whole swamp was yellow; this year only a circle of them here and a strip there.
And back at the Lost Swamp coming out of a green girdle of a large dead tree trunk in the water was a stalk with two little yellow marigolds. I walked down by the rock dens. The grass was mussed all through it and then to the beautiful den toward the dam where I found two otter scats, relatively fresh. After scaring off more ducks, and seeing that nothing was new in the porcupine hotel, I headed home.
September 20 I woke up at 6:20 am and got out the door a half hour before the sun got up - still light enough to see well. A killdeer was on the hill across the street where killdeer nest every spring - back to see the old home before heading south? My mission was to see otters. I went over the ridge to Beaver Point - nothing doing there but ducks; no action in Otter Hole. I hurried on to the Lost Swamp where I expected otters to be. The sun was an orange ball and in my eyes. I sorted out the ducks near me, no geese, and then, using the binoculars I saw an otter swimming off what I call otter point. I saw another ripple and suspected two otters were there. I went back to the shade of the woods and then eased on down toward otter point. I didn't see an otter, but a beaver and it quickly thwacked a tail at me. Still I had seen the tip of an otter tail! and I always expect morning beavers in the Lost Swamp. I moved closer to the pond and kept scanning ripples. I saw an otter further up the pond to the right. To make a long story short, I periodically spotted the otter as it fished the whole length of the pond moving to the farthest end of the pond, perhaps a third of a mile from me! Meanwhile more beavers headed to the lodge. I had maintained a vantage point in the shade which gave me a view of the mossy shore where I had been seeing so much scat. I decided to abandon that so I could get a better view of the far reaches of the pond. Just as I walked down to the pond, the otter glided by me like a sleek cruiser!
I froze, though it dove it didn't seem to notice me. I moved back to cover and lost the otter in a sea of ripples by the old small lodge in the middle of the pond. I kept moving from tree to tree to get a better angle, but I succeeded only in seeing more beavers, including two little ones cruising down from the north end of the pond. One of the large beavers went back to the lodge, but not to bed. It cruised back to the shore just across from me. Then I saw a black head popping out of the water a good ways off otter point, and it was an otter jawing down a fish.
I think it caught at least three fish and then melted away. This was gratifying but I expected to see a family, to see all those responsible for all those scats! I kept scanning the pond and thought I saw an otter dive near the big lodge at the other end of the pond. I didn't see it again - minutes later another beaver, the last, cruised by me to the lodge. Is it possible that the family fishes even earlier and that I was seeing an adult foraging after the little ones were back in the den? Dare I get up even earlier? A number of birds entertained me, principally loud crows and jays. A red squirrel was furious at my presence but still went about the business of burying hickory nuts right in front of me.
September 22 I went off at 8am and went to the Lost Swamp via the New Pond, Beaver Point and Otter Hole ponds which were all quiet. So was the Lost Swamp. I went directly to the rock just above otter point and waited. A large gaggle of geese flew over and then landed away from me in the middle of the pond. A few minutes later they swam toward me all in a line. Usually the geese in the pond, when they've moved in unison, just do it in a spread out fashion. It seemed that every third or fourth goose was larger than the others so I fancied that this was a group of mothers getting their goslings in shape for migration.
When they all got into the water before me, they broke ranks and some foraged, others preened, a few squabbled. Then two ducks, more like ducklings, flew in and came even closer to me. They had blue on their tail and one, at least, had a white rim around its eyes. Meanwhile the geese retreated - not in a line, and then three wood ducks flew in. Two were in the midst of something because they chased each other. The two other, and smaller and duller ducks, seemed to join them and they all flew off together. The kingfisher perched close to me. Other birds flying over. It was a bright sunny, windy and chilly morning. I moved to the sun, on the log at the otter point. Then I checked the mossy scatting area and there were two very fresh smears of scat. Had I just missed them again? The area gets the sun in the afternoon and I debated whether the otters scatted there in the sun, but I didn't notice any evidence of scratching, pawing and rolling. There were no scats on the north shore. I headed up to the dam and saw a hint of fresh scat near the old "rolling area," at the bottom of what could be called a slide. I decided to lie down on the rocks on the little hill there, warm in the sun, and dream about otters before heading to the East Trail pond which I haven't checked in a while. When I got up at 10:30 ready to go I noticed that I had forgotten my pack on the other side of the pond. Going around the end of the pond, the smallest bird I'd ever seen came roaring through, along the logs and grass, into some plants on the rock slope and then up into the trees - a tailless wren? 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 recalled that I had seen otters here back on my birthday in 1994! 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.
It may have come to shore a couple times. But with the waving grass in front I didn't get many good photos.
It seemed to have fair success fishing and then headed over to the dam. I went over to Double Lodge Pond and didn't see any evidence that the otters went through it. It's been awhile since I've seen the otters leisurely fishing like this. I was pretty good at following them when they were under water. They swam pretty good distances as they foraged, as did the otter I saw in the Lost Swamp two days ago. These were not exceptionally large otters. The pups I saw back in July are probably three times as big now. But these otters stayed a part so I don't think either was one of those pups. So I still haven't seen the family. But this was a nice birthday present.
September 23: rainy day, and some moderate and almost heavy rain during the day. The rain stopped in the afternoon and it remained warm. Ottoleo and I went over to the New Pond via the motor boat, getting there at about 5 pm. No beavers were out. I could see they had been doing a lot of work. A good size ash was down just below the point. The maple that was fresh down a few days ago was segmented and stripped. It looked like a lot of stripping on the far side of the pond with fresh logs on the lodge and it looked like fresh logs on the dam though the wet and glow of the late afternoon can make the old look new. We did not have long to wait for the beaver. Despite the day of rain it did not go to check the dam. It went up pond and then to the just cut down ash, though it didn't bother that. It got some leaves, and vines and little sticks, then seemed to go back to the lodge. Ottoleo left and I got down just off shore behind a large rock and below a dead tree well rotted. I had a good vantage of the crown of the ash and hoped the beavers would stay on my side of the many brown leaves. It is always an adventure being so close and too soon it seemed that my game was up, a beaver came by and got down wind of me and splashed three times in the middle of the pond. The uhs from elsewhere continued and so did the gnawing, so no one took alarm. Then I began tracking a small beaver - all its body so well out of the water that it rode in the water like a muskrat, but it was fast, very fast.
First it zoomed by and went around the bend, then, I think it was the same one, it came back and came right up to me. It bumped pretty hard into a standing tree trunk right in front of me. But it didn't get alarmed! Meanwhile a large beaver was eating little sticks on the shore just on the other side of the ash crown.
The little beaver joined the big beaver with some hijinks on the way. It tried to climb up on the ash but slipped and fell back splashing in the water. At first I thought it was because of me, but the beaver swam under the log and tried more successfully from the other way, then stopped such strenuous work and merely picked twigs out of the water, very small twigs. The other beaver stretched up now and then to take twigs out of the ash crown. Once I was focused in the camera on one beaver and the noise I heard didn't jive with what I saw. Another beaver was closer to me gnawing on a root!
Periodically other beavers would come close to inspect me, but I got no more splashes. Being under a rotting log seems to give me some entree into beaver society, or is it just me? It was time to go home for dinner but I was trapped by the beavers. I didn't want to leave while they were near me. I didn't want to give them a shock. But you can trust a beaver to move on even though with the dead ash there they could have spent the whole night taking out the twigs and branches and eating them. First one beaver left, the slightly larger, then the small one went past me and to other side of the pond. I got up and out of there before another beaver came to take their places. Just above me a young buck was browsing. For a reason I can't fathom, the smaller beaver had the twig in the water as it ate it. In this photo he just brought his fists up to the surface.
As always the beavers didn't shake or dunk so that leaves and wood chips would get off their snout or whiskers. Two beavers were close to each other quite a awhile yet didn't make a sound. The uhs of young one always came from afar. Were they silent because I was near by? At the beginning an adult beaver ate twigs as it sat on a small stump so it was out of the water and reaching down. The little guy kept in the water more though it was right near shore. Needless to say I got many close-ups on the video camera.
September 25 I headed off a little before nine, taking the ridge path up to the Big Pond. I eased up to the end of the dam where I suspected otters might be. No otters but much fresh scat - the most I've seen there this year, or any year. I sat to see if anything developed and began hearing something in the tall grass below the dam. A small raccoon came up to the dam and turned toward me. I hate to scare animals so I cleared my throat. It backed off and then slowly retreated along the dam and then back into the grass
A few ducks on the Big Pond. We had some heavy downpours Saturday night, and there was fresh mud on the dam - this pond has been brimming all summer. Up at the Lost Swamp I saw at least one, perhaps two muskrats along the shore across from me. Then I saw a large deer wading in at the far end of the north cove. I first I thought it was wading out to get something delectable, then it leaped over a log and trudged to the other side. Perhaps one fresh scat at the mossy cove, none on the north shore. As I walked down to Otter Hole I developed a theory. Those times that I saw otter were most likely those times when the otters moved from one pond to the other. A good morning fishing would prompt the otters to stay put, poor fishing would force them to move on, hence I see them in the late morning or even at noon. So when I didn't see them in the Lost Swamp and saw them later in the Big Pond, they had just moved to the Big Pond. So, now, I thought, the otters were out early in the Big Pond, got enough to eat and went back to their den rather than move on, so I didn't see them. As I came up on Otter Hole Pond, I saw something in the grass along the edge of the pond - two large ducks. I saw more ducks down below the rock dens
I have to improve my duck identification. There were several of these, others with lighter brown feathers. After they flew off, I went down along the rock dens - something had been through there, and where I had seen scat before, I saw some more, relatively fresh. Bad news for my theory. Then just as I began going up the little hill that forms the rock dens of Beaver Point pond, I saw an otter scatting on beaver point, and at least one other otter there. Alas, I misfired my video camera, not that I concentrated on a good shot. I hurried to get down half behind a rock with cover behind me. Then after I was settled I looked to see where the otters had gone - they disappeared! completely. Here was a testament to how many good dens there are there. The old beaver lodge, the dam lodge, the mink holes at beaver point, the porcupine hotel. I checked the latter and nothing was there. No sign of them in the New Pond. I went up on the ridge - still plenty of branches on the felled ash. All quiet. What a nice theory I had, and then, poof, the otters put it in doubt. A chilly morning by the way, 40 degrees when I went off, but sunny and warmed up quickly enough for my comfort.
September 27 I got off a little after 8 and took the ridge route to the Big Pond. I didn't go up to the dam but the little knoll below the dam provides a pretty good view. No otters, or anything else out on the pond. A south wind was picking up. An osprey flew off as I approached the Lost Swamp - I suppose it could have been a hawk. No geese at all on the pond (I kayaked yesterday to South Bay and there were a hundred or so geese and about half that many ducks there. I also saw a few specimens of the mysterious egg sacks in the water - they seemed firmer and instead of jelly with a black egg, there was more like a white seed.) and very few ducks. However I did see the kingfisher, phoebes, a robin, a blue jay, heard a flicker, and I think some sparrows. Then I went to look for scat, expecting to see none since I had not seen the otters there for a while. There were no scats at the point, but there was quite a bit of fresh scat at the mossy cove, and some milkweeds knocked over! Now I expected to see scats at the north shore thinking that otters I saw at Beaver Point Pond had moved in. And there were three scats there - one quite stringy.
Very few bones in these scats - is it frog time? I didn't see any scats down near the little Second Swamp pond. I crossed the dam up there - more water and more little fish in the pool below the busted dam. There were many ducks on the East Trail pond - of course they all flew off. Few other birds. I fancied, as I lounged on the bank near the lodge, that there had been no beaver activity. Then when I crossed the dam I saw that mud had been freshly pushed up. The pond is a little low - a foot or so below the crest of the dam. There were some fairly fresh otter scats half way up the hill and some digging up there. After seeing scats all over the place, I assumed that the otters must have left Beaver Point pond. Then below me as I came over the crest of the ridge over looking Otter Hole Pond, I saw an otter diving below! I first saw its tail and it looked like a small otter and it was in the shallow reaches of the pond. I got down the hill, and hoped to see several otters. No such luck. At least the otter, which began looking bigger to me, didn't notice me and go off hiding. It fished the channel through the pond and got something it had to do some serious gnawing on to get down the hatch. Then it fished around the lodge, unsuccessfully and headed for the gap in the dam. I lost it and so I crept down to Beaver Point pond. Fortunately I noticed it in the shallows before it noticed me. It caught a big fish and I got a good look at its masticating jaws.
It fished in the shallows some more, unsuccessfully, and then headed across the pond where I lost it. I noticed it a few minutes later heading toward the rocks I call beaver point. It came out, went up on the rock and scatted. Then it seemed to prance in the grass, looked out over the pond, scatted again,
and then hurried back into the pond. Once again it seemed like a young otter. Meanwhile I moved closer to the pond hoping it would come back to where it caught the big fish. It almost did but basically kept in the channel and then went to the other side and seemed to dive down along the trunks of the dead trees. All the while I am trying to figure out what this otter represents. I thought I saw two otters the last time I was here. It being late morning, having one otter out after the other had gone in wouldn't be surprising. Had this otter left scats at the Lost Swamp and East Trail Pond? Finally I couldn't be sure where it went. Probably not into the old beaver lodge because I probably would have seen it. And probably not back to Otter Hole dam. My guess is that it went to the porcupine hotel. I'll try to check that out soon. I continued around the pond until I got to the New Pond. The lodge looks the same. And there wasn't as much work over there as I thought there was from looking from the other side. A leafy ash was just down - possibly blown down by the blustery wind. I should mention that following the otter in the pond was difficult because of the frequent strong wind gusts.
September 29 I got off a little after 8 and took the ridge route to the Big Pond. I scared two small bucks up on the ridge. Nothing happening at the Big Pond and so I went up to the Lost Swamp. I sat on my usual stone and contemplated what seemed like the usual - ducks far off, not much happening in front of me and small birds and red squirrels carrying on behind and above me. I did see a suspicious looking ripple across the pond along the shore but the wind was picking up and playing all over the surface of the pond. I found some scat at the otter point - a little off the old spots, in the grass, probably a few days old. I walked over the little knoll to the mossy shore and as I came down to the moss the scat smell was quite strong. More fresh scats there. Had I just missed them again? I walked around to the north shore and found a few fresh smears there. As I came down to the shore I told myself that I was becoming obsessed with the need to see the otters scat on the mossy shore, and that I would have to mount a dawn patrol. Then as I looked over at the mossy shore I saw an otter out in the pond cruising toward that shore! Talk about being "in the zone!" In the camera I saw the otter get to the cove, come out on the moss, sniff, turn and let fly with tail waving,
then it slipped into the water, and cruised out, dove, and I lost sight of it. I waited and had much to think about. Was there only one otter around, and did the large amount of scatting there arise because it always went there to scat? And did it do that to create the impression that there were many otters in the pond? But then, why did it sniff the scats when it came up, and why make such a display at a place that was not an entryway to the pond like the north shore? Then I saw the otter fishing out in the pond beyond the old lodge. I went over toward the mossy shore and hid behind a downed tree across from it. I hoped that after fishing the otter would come back and scat again. And so I waited for over a half hour and saw no hint of otter. However a flock of bluejays, then robins and then large black ducks flew over me. I seemed to be at a spot that attracted animals! But I wanted otters. I got up to leave but first scanned the upper reaches of the other side of the pond that had been out of my view. The otter porpoised - it was still fishing! Then I glanced to my left and there in the pond right beside me was a big ripple. Soon I saw the otter, scrambled for cover and was relieved to see that it don't notice me and climbed on top of the old lodge
Yes, I had begun doubting my sightings of two otters the other days. Now I knew there were two. But where did this one come from - just in from Otter Hole pond or was it denning over there? As I pondered that another otter came up from the same direction, scampered on top the lodge and joined the other otter in grooming. They groomed and played with each other. They crawled all over each other and even seemed to kiss, as it were, in a jaw open fashion
At times they would settle down as if resting, then one would squirm and off they would go again, pushing, grooming and kissing. No noise from them however. Finally one got a position, snout to the sun, and kept it. I decided that this sudden display of typical fall behavior arose because last night it got below 30 degrees for most of the night. They wanted to get warm in the sun. One, however, kept twitching and soon slip off into the water
leaving the other high and dry and warm. It swam a few yards out and then dove. I lost it until it came back on top of the lodge from the other side. There was no scatting before me. It was getting onto lunch time; I wanted to wait until the third otter returned to the lodge. I got up to see where it was. Last I had seen it, it was heading far up the pond. Now it seemed to be heading back. But after fifteen minutes of more waiting, it seemed quite content to stay over in the shallows, where it caught at least two fish or frogs. I knew it could suddenly cruise over. But as I stood waiting for that. The two other otters slipped off the lodge into the water and I presume went into the lodge. So there are three otters, and I think all of the them are at least a year old. They are too independent of each other to be pups. Are they the same three otters I saw in May? Good chance, but the May otters doted on leaning on the logs at otter point. These otters have left just one scat at the logs, and a few on the grass on either side of the logs. Then what happened to the three little otters? Perhaps they'll make an appearance later in the fall. One thing is certain: despite osprey, mergansers, kingfishers, herons and even a cormorant, the otters seem to be getting plenty to eat out of the pond.
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