Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report – March 7, 2023
The VSR is supported by VLT, MCHT and U - So thanks!
‘It’s like that old story of the rabbit and the hare…’
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Highlights – Otter edition part 1
Gotta get this out quick – time sensitive material here. More to come soon. Like
birds and wings in snow and the such…and other things….
Contact us –
hey – folks sent in sightings and now they are famous. Famous for sharing –
there are worser things to be known for that’s for sure. And these famous folks
know they are my favorites! And you want to be my favorite (trust me, you do!).
So send sightings photos reports questions and concerns to vinalhavensightings@gmail.com .
You probably won’t regret it.
Tiit Trick –
click a=nigh photo and have it fill your screen and your world. Click again and
the photo will magically unjumbosize itself. Truly is magic, new-fangled
computer kinda stuff.
Sightings –
like mentioned above – this is the River Otter special edition. These are
exciting times….
otter tracks (5 toes!)
photo by Claudia Dengler
First off – (3/1)
Claudia Dengler sent in a photo
after hiking the Mill River trails. You
see, Claudia, Doug Ficham and Patience Trainor went for a stroll after a snow (2/28)
and found some tracks they were curious about. Turns out they were from a River
Otter! Vinalhaven special….
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| river otter marking at Megunticook Lake |
Exactly what this otter was up to is
hard to say from the photos, but what it was most likely doing was visiting a
latrine. Otter latrines are important message areas that local and visiting otters
will visit and mark repeatedly. Spraint (classy British term for ‘otter poo’),
urine and that mysterious gooey white stuff are the ‘stuff of marking’ for the
most part at this areas. Information on food preferences and ideas of local
population size can be learned at these ‘poop-spots’.
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| otters sprainting and rolling at a Old Harbor Pond latrine |
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| at the latrine |
The latrine/marking areas may be
spots were grasses and reeds are packed down and hefty amounts of spraint can
collect.
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| lot of rolling going on |
Couple more classic latrine locations - Anywhere water meets water – be it a
fresh water stream hitting the ocean, a lake or another stream for example(s) –
local otters are likely to have a latrine. River otters also have cross
island/land trails leading from one food source to another. Some of these
trails are long – think of the 1.5 miler that connects Vinal Cove to the Basin
– that will mostly, if not entirely, go over land. Otters will have latrines at
either end of trails like these. That’s all I have to say about latrines. Well,
at the moment.
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| otter trail photo by Cay Kendrick |
AW Smith Road
– Cay Kendrick was kind enough to send
in this fantastic photo of an Otter slide she came across while skiing Sunday
(3/5/23) with George. Saturday’s storm was impressive – 9 -12 inches or
whatever – deep snow, and the trail Cay and George found was classic for a River
Otter in deep snow. Or at least part of it was classic.
You see – River Otters are big
weasels. Otter average about 18 lbs. (up to 33lbs or so), which doesn’t sound
like much because it’s not, but for an animal with tiny-a** legs moving through
snow it actually is a lot. It’s also a lot when you compare to the other weasel
(Mustelid) on island – the American Mink – who’ll run somewhere between 1.5 to
3.5 lbs. .
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| mink bounding trail |
Quick mustelid comparison coming up – and a made up definition of bounding –
Bounding - a
travel pattern/strategy/gait where an animals hind feet land (pretty much) where its front feet previously were,
leaving in snow a trail of a paired prints
– usually side by side and of equal size
.
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| mink bound under log |
When the snow is deep Mink – being
somewhat light - can still move on top of the frozen precipitation by bounding,
even though at times mink bounding trails with small strides (distance between
tracks) can show that it took added energy to maintain movement. Mink can also
burrow into snow if conditions call for it – when the bounding is too
inefficient. In my experience when a mink trail I am following disappears into
the snow it is because they are hunting mice or voles under the snow (subnivian
layer, anyone?) and follow tunnels already made. Anyway, tunneling is an option
for mink, for otters not so much.
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| otter trail from opening to overnight accommodations |
In reality River Otters don’t really
burrow. When they do it’s often a quick tunnel – few feet to a few more -
through thick snow leading to an opening in ice or a den. Most of these otter
tunnels are created by the otter or otters coming out of the den or out from under
the ice rather than an otter on top of snow digging a tunnel down to such
openings. That was a mouthful.
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| otter belly bound |
Bounding is an issue for them too. I
mean, they can, and will bound in deep(ish) snow. I refer to this as a ‘belly
bound’ because otters, weighing what they do and having some tiny-a** arms to
boot, often cannot launch themselves up and out of the snow and into the air
when bounding (like a mink does). Deep enough snow will actually support the otter
body as it leaps – leaving a series of ‘belly grooves’ connecting tracks in a
bounding trail.
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| otter belly bound trail lane's 3/3 |
Take a look at this otter trail I saw
on Lanes last Friday (3/3). There will be more on this in part 2, but the otter
was bounding through the snow in the marsh close to the beginning of the
preserve driveway. Never pulled itself fully out of the snow, and the snow
wasn’t actually all that deep. For an otter maybe….. Anyway – the pattern is
the point here….
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| otter trail photo by Cay Kendrick |
…and so back to Cay and her belly slide. This snow was much deeper than the snow on
Lane’s – had to be, it was like a blizzard Saturday. The otter(s) associated
with this slide may have tried to bound wherever this trail begins but as far
as what this photo captures is mostly belly slide. Rather than try and bound, in
deep snow it can be more efficient for otters to hold their front paws and legs
tight against their bodies and push themselves with their hind legs through the
snow like a plow (cute to picture, I admit). This is what a belly slide is – an
efficient way to move through snow, and maybe along muddy trail. It doesn’t
take much snow on an incline to inspire an otter to get on its belly and slide,
and sometimes it doesn’t take much snow for an otter to slide on a flat
surface. Look at this photo of slides and Leif for like 5 years ago or so.
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| first otter belly slide I ever saw Lane's Island winter '05 |
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| belly slide on relatively level ground |
Another tangent
– the longest belly slide I ever saw – otter belly slides can go on forever if
the conditions are right. One time on Brimstone in the winter (maybe ‘07?) John
Drury and I followed an otter trail that for whatever reason went over the
highest section of land! It cascaded down a north facing slope towards the
north end of the island, what we estimated was about 800 ft. long. For a slide
that long an otter is going to have to kick every so often, even on a downhill
stretch. That was a fun day.
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| through the woods and under logs |
On the mainland I followed an otter
path that runs from the Ponderosa to the Marsh (both in St George. There is a high point in between these two bodies of
water and sure enough the otter trail I was following went over that highest
point. The otter then cascaded its way to the Marsh on a gentle slope, belly
sliding the entire 2000 ft. stretch between. It was magnificent, with prints
from the occasional, scattered kicks to keep the slide moving. Almost looked effortless
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| on the mainland fisher trail on otter slide |
What’s better yet !– (how could it get any better?) – is that other animals will
use/follow the resulting packed snow trail left behind by the belly slide, mostly
likely in an effort to save energy –‘follow the easiest path’ – Old Jersey
Saying .I have seen (on the mainland)
where a coyote took advantage of and walked over and over, otter belly slide
after otter belly slide when crossing a frozen pond. And remember that 2000 ft.
long slide I mention like moments ago? The local fisher (once again this is on the mainland) used the otter slide for 150 ft.
or so, even though it was slightly out of the way back to its den. The fisher had been struggling with its own
bounding – because of deep snow and a fully belly (thus the pin idea ‘Too Full to Bound’)- and walking on the
well packed and well supportive otter belly slide looked to be much easier.
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| 4 otters making their way over not so deep snow... |
But Kirk, you say – ‘what’s the point of that since neither Coyote and Fisher live on island (as far as you are concerned, with ‘you’ being ‘me’ and ‘me being ‘Kirk’)?’. Well, the main animal on Vinalhaven that would take advantage of a well packed belly slide belly slide is ……. Another otter! That’s right, if the snow is so deep that bounding isn’t an option, making a belly slide (or ‘laying the slide’) take a lot of energy. I say that like I’ve done that, but it certainly takes more of an effort than in shallow snow.
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| ...same trail, deeper snow they lined up single file for this stretch |
Over the years I have
noticed that, in these deep snow conditions a group of otters will line up and
follow a single laid path, or a single otter might use a slide over and over
again. A group of otters on the move is often loose and fluid as far as sticking
together. In deep snow it can be a straight line – single file even! Now that
would be fun to see.
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| otter trail photo by Cay Kendrick |
So back to Cay’s photo – first off - the otter(s) that made this trail were moving
towards the camera. The trail is somewhat straight and deep coming into the
opening, and then picks up a slightly braided look. At first I thought that
this weaving section – the half of the trail closest to the bottom – was
because two otters followed this path and their movements for propulsion didn’t
match each other and so on this stretch the trail was altered and widened a
bit. That still may be the case – the part it the woods is deep and screams of
multiple otters passing through, but may not be. I’m starting to this this was
one otter.
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| some of my favorite belly slides letter 'Y' |
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| letter 'X' |
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| letter 'K' |
Call it what you want and be it was
it is, at least one otter made their way through that deep snow. Why would an
otter (or two) cut through such deep snow? It’s not a short cut between feeding
areas when the snow is at such depths, so the trail almost undoubtedly runs
from a den to the ocean.
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| this one just had to kick out its hip at that point. |
This is a reminder that following
trails and taking lots of photos is not only fun, but can unveil clues and
unleash mysteries. I mean, look how long this conversation is from just one
photo. Imagine if there were photos of the latrines and den connected to this
slide/slound. So when you are out follow those trail, take bunches of photos
and then send them over our way – we’re always happy to check ‘em out – vinalhavensightings@gmail.com .
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| otter prints photo by John Drury |
Wow – we are
here already. This is going to have to be part 1 of the otter edition. Look for
part 2 soon. We’ll close out with some Greens
Island otter photos John sent
in. These were taken on (3/1).after the Tuesday (2/28) storm. Nice otter prints first off.
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| otter working hard, maybe slightly uphill? photo by John Drury |
The photos of two trails that cut
through open areas show short slides with good kicks. This first photo seems to show a trail that an otter made going uphill
and sliding.
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| older otter path photo by John Drury |
The second one
John interpreted as being made during the snow storm– which is cool – and which
ends up with a partially covered trail showing less details in individual
tracks, but still captures the basic gist of the trail. Once again, smallish
slides between good hind leg kicks for propulsion - might fall in the ‘slound’
category. Quickly becoming a favorite category on mine
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| otter trail photo by John Drury |
This last photo
is out on the point across from Lane’s, with a slide/trail so wide it looks to
have been used by multiple otters. The paired bounding prints in the slide were
not likely laid as the slide was created, but could have been made by a second
otter slowly following the belly slider or
maybe were made during a second pass through by the same otter. There are
den(s) located in the area, and this path seems to be connected with a den of
historic use.
Very, very cool. Lots of otter detectable
otter activity these days, and we’ll delve into that in part 2.
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| the boy and a cat |
I am very thankful for people sending
in their photos of winter wildlife activity. Big Thanks for sharing.
We’ll be back in just a little bit….
Stay tuned.
