Wednesday, February 5, 2014

River Otters Return

Yesterday morning after I got up I saw a beautiful sunrise.  It has been cold, but when it is sunny it doesn't seem so cold.


As soon as the sun appeared, it was gone and the day became hazy.  I was hopeful that the sun would reappear, but it didn't.  As I was looking out on the marsh, I saw our three doe running across one after the other.  Our injured doe is still limping but she seems to be able to keep up with the others.  Next I noticed something else.  There were two otters playing and going in and out of two openings in the water.  We have River Otters every spring, and they are very entertaining.  They love chasing each other and jumping in the water.  Some people trap these animals.  I hope they stay on our private property and hide from human predators.  That won't protect them from eagles and coyotes but maybe that is why they have learned to move so quickly.  We usually see them when the stream has completely thawed.  It is still quite frozen except for a few small openings.  If they get closer and if they remain until the thaw, I will try to get better pictures.


Kind of an odd view.  I don't know if he is coming out of the water or going back in.

The otters appeared off and on all afternoon,  but they didn't come any closer.  About 5:00, I decided to go outside to see if I could get a closer picture.  It was getting dark, but I wanted to try.  We had seen an eagle several times during the afternoon, but I didn't make the connection.  As I was trying to take some more otter pictures, an eagle swooped down toward them.  The otters disappeared into the water and waited.  Soon one of them peeked their head out of the ice.  It caught me by surprise so these are the only two pictures I managed to capture.


The little hole directly under the eagle is where the otter were playing.




It wasn't a minute later, and this brave otter came back out of the water.

It got colder again today, and I don't see the eagle or the otter.  If they reappear when the warmer weather comes again, I will report.  The otters are probably the reason the coyote visited us a couple months ago. 

 http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/12/a-coyote-in-neighborhood.html 

I like the coyote and the eagle, but I don't want them eating our otter.

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