Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Saturday, July 11. 2020

Otters

Otters of a large range of species are basically water-oriented members of the weasel family along with wolverines, badgers, etc. 


In North America, we have the North American River Otter. They are neither common nor rare.  In the Northeat US, it has been my theory that they raise their babies on hatchery trout. Otters, like all weasels, have a high metabolic rate and are voracious. 


They are not seen often, but they are around most stocked trout streams and rivers.


Seen one lately? 

Posted by The Barrister in Natural History and Conservation at 14:45 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Here in Central Illinois they were reintroduced into our river systems about 20 years ago. Most folks were thrilled. They proliferated and have now taken to traveling to private ponds adjacent to the rivers where they hang out until they've eaten every last fish in the pond. Affected landowners, especially those who like to raise catfish, are not amused.
#1 Erik on 2020-07-11 16:48 (Reply)
Many years ago, while traipsing through the Uinta range in Utah. We set up camp for a couple of days in an area that had a nice stream running through it.

I grabbed my fly rod, and waded the stream. Casting here and there with no real success, I noticed ripples coming at me from an entry point along the bank. Turned out I had aroused the interest of a "family" of otters.

They swam around me, down and upstream. After deciding that I was not a particularly good fisherman, they left me to my devices and headed back to the riverbank.

It was in delightful experience, as I'm up to my ribs in the water, and they're just cruising on by me about an arms length away.

Good times, great trip...
#2 browndog on 2020-07-11 19:24 (Reply)
I see them pretty much every fall while jump shooting waterfowl. They hiss if you get too close.
#3 Shiningmackerel on 2020-07-11 19:33 (Reply)
Here in the coastal PNW we see them all the time, right along with the seals and sea lions who all stick around for the seasonal fish runs. And yes, like seagulls and garbage dumps, they do seem to favor fish hatcheries. We have to trap and release a few every year to keep them from our salmon brood stock during spawning season.
#4 Just Waiting on 2020-07-11 23:08 (Reply)
We see them here in the mainstem Chesapeake Bay, but not very often. I saw one last year. They often show up on game cameras on docks at night, though. They're more common than people think.
#5 Fritz (Link) on 2020-07-12 11:06 (Reply)
I live next to East Creek in Rutland, VT, a tributary of Otter Creek, a lengthy north flowing river that ends in Lake Champlain. I see them very occasionally in all different seasons of the year; some being quite large. I find your hatchery trout theory interesting and accurate. East Creek is a State designated "trophy trout" stream annually stocked with hundreds of large (14-18") browns and rainbows.
#6 Tom Layden on 2020-07-12 11:38 (Reply)
Haven't seen any otters, but I did see what I think was a fisher running down our frozen creek one winter. Here in Eastern Pa. we hear quite a few weird noises from our woods, foxes mostly, but I like to think there is a fisher out there too.
#7 RT on 2020-07-12 13:46 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.