January 15, 2023: Otters on the Bay

People have been reporting sightings of river otters in Meredith Bay the past few days and when I stopped at the town docks yesterday to check on the status of the ice in the bay, there they were - three of them!

Three river otters right at the end of Meredith Bay.

They're called River Otters, but they can be found on rivers, lakes, and ponds that have good water quality throughout the lakes region.  

Taken from the Meredith town docks with Pleasant Street in the background,

I only had my phone with me so these are the best pictures I was able to take.  I watched them for quite a while as they played in the water and on the ice - such incredibly playful and fun-loving animals.  I took some video of them on the ice:

They look like three brothers happily carousing together in frigid water - I think I'll name them Mackinnley, Hayden, and Callum.  I wish I could frolic endlessly like that in 32 degree water!  

We've had several small snowfalls recently which provided enough snow to do a bit of animal tracking and on one trip I observed several sets of tracks including a nice set of bobcat prints in the snow.

The small spacing of ~6" tells me this cat was walking slowly.

The round shape, lack of toenail imprints, and the boomerang-shape ridge between heel and toes are distinguishing features of bobcat print.

Right along this same trail I came across this pile of scat which has the size, shape, segmentation, and content of a bobcat:

Note the fur in this scat.

At least these tracks were far from our birdfeeders.

On the avian side, I saw my first tufted titmouse on the feeders on January 10th, and on the 14th the red-bellied woodpecker made another appearance.

This suet feeder is just barely long enough for a woodpecker of its size to feed.  Woodpeckers use their tail as a third point of support as they climb on trees and use their beak to go after food.  Here you can see the red-bellied has bent its tail 90 degrees to press it against the bottom of the feeder as a brace.  

The tail feathers are pressed against the bottom of the feeder; the wings feathers extend down below.

If it were much longer it wouldn't be able to feed there.  Bird feed manufacturers make large suet feeders like this one available from Wild Birds Unlimited to accomodate even the largest woodpeckers we have, the pileated, which is not able to partake in typical feeding stations:

A feeder with a long extension on which a pileated woodpecker can press its tail for a third point of support.

Mounting a feeder on a tree trunk will also work.

I'll end with two more sets of tracks on Lake Wicwas, which is frozen.  I took this picture just because it was pretty but after the fact I wished I paid more attention to the tracks.  My best guess is another bobcat based on the round prints and the offset tracks.  A coyote or fox would leave prints in a straight line.  Had I noted the dimensions I would be able to make a better identification.

Sadly, the ice on Meredith Bay is a long ways from being ready for February's events on the bay, but the otters sure are enjoying the current status.

The state of ice on Meredith Bay as of yesterday.

Correction:  In last weeks journal entry I misidentified a woodpecker.  A knowledgeable viewer noted that the length of the beak and the lack of black spots on the outer tail feathers indicate it was a hairy woodpecker, not a downy.  Thank you for that helpful identification information!