BriGuy
Life of the Party
From my morning walk along the Columbia by the house.
View attachment 133113View attachment 133114View attachment 133115View attachment 133116
View attachment 133117
Pretty good variety of critters for a single walk!
NFR Got any mammal pictures
- Thread starter Cabezon
- Start date
Non-fishing related
Pretty good variety of critters for a single walk!
Impressive to say the least. I’ve seen stuff like that on the Methow.
Bad cell phone pics of a couple of our local suburbanites cleaning up on the last of the fallen apples.
A couple cow elk grazing under the tree on the far bank.
[Continuing a recent run of river otter pictures...]
Billie Frank Jr. Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. As a marine biologist, when someone says otter, it is the cute, cuddly sea otter that comes to mind. These are the otters that you see in kelp forests from Monterey, CA to Alaska. Sea otters can store food that they harvest on their dives in baggy pockets of skin under each forearm. This otter from Monterey Harbor is feeding on something, while the Kellet’s whelk lying on its chest is next on the menu.
But in Washington, sea otters are found almost exclusively along the coast, especially near Kalaloch; the occasional male can be found in the Salish Sea. All of these otters are descendants of a group of Alaskan sea otters that were reintroduced in 1969 and 1970.
In most other parts of the U.S., when you think of otters, you envision the river otters that live in freshwater lakes and rivers. But, river otters treat the Salish Sea like it is just a big lake. River otters tend to be a bit shorter (4 feet) and lighter (10-35lbs) than sea otters (up to 5 feet and 50-100lbs).
Nisqually NWR would appear to be great habitat for river otters. They would have access to the mouth of the Nisqually River, McAllister Creek, the freshwater marshes and ponds, and the canals. But they have been quite elusive. On a recent visit, I spotted an otter in one of the canals on the Twin Barns loop close to the Nisqually River.
It was moving toward me and then dove into the canal parallel to the boardwalk. It popped up briefly in front of me, but then it then dove and shot off down the canal. Because its movements left a trail of bubbles, I could track its progress underwater. I hustled down the boardwalk to a position where I hoped that it would surface. It did pop up where I expected and I captured a few pictures.
But this animal wasn’t happy to see me. It immediately dove and blasted back the way it had come. So, a fleeting encounter.
Steve
Billie Frank Jr. Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. As a marine biologist, when someone says otter, it is the cute, cuddly sea otter that comes to mind. These are the otters that you see in kelp forests from Monterey, CA to Alaska. Sea otters can store food that they harvest on their dives in baggy pockets of skin under each forearm. This otter from Monterey Harbor is feeding on something, while the Kellet’s whelk lying on its chest is next on the menu.
But in Washington, sea otters are found almost exclusively along the coast, especially near Kalaloch; the occasional male can be found in the Salish Sea. All of these otters are descendants of a group of Alaskan sea otters that were reintroduced in 1969 and 1970.
In most other parts of the U.S., when you think of otters, you envision the river otters that live in freshwater lakes and rivers. But, river otters treat the Salish Sea like it is just a big lake. River otters tend to be a bit shorter (4 feet) and lighter (10-35lbs) than sea otters (up to 5 feet and 50-100lbs).
Nisqually NWR would appear to be great habitat for river otters. They would have access to the mouth of the Nisqually River, McAllister Creek, the freshwater marshes and ponds, and the canals. But they have been quite elusive. On a recent visit, I spotted an otter in one of the canals on the Twin Barns loop close to the Nisqually River.
It was moving toward me and then dove into the canal parallel to the boardwalk. It popped up briefly in front of me, but then it then dove and shot off down the canal. Because its movements left a trail of bubbles, I could track its progress underwater. I hustled down the boardwalk to a position where I hoped that it would surface. It did pop up where I expected and I captured a few pictures.
But this animal wasn’t happy to see me. It immediately dove and blasted back the way it had come. So, a fleeting encounter.
Steve
Land based rodent guarding the graves of Seth Bulloch, Wild Bill and Calamity Jane in Deadwood SD.
Not as “cute” as an otter, but still dignified. Knowing that an otter is not a rodent might the above land based rascal and otters split away from each other in the deep dark past at some time, maybe millions of years ago?
Calling @Cabezon ?
Not as “cute” as an otter, but still dignified. Knowing that an otter is not a rodent might the above land based rascal and otters split away from each other in the deep dark past at some time, maybe millions of years ago?Calling @Cabezon ?
I'm not an expert on mammalian evolution, but the field has been studied extensively via analysis of fossils and molecular techniques (which sometimes agree...). From what I've read this morning, fossil evidence indicates that the order Rodentia, to which this yellow-bellied marmot belongs, diverged from the other mammal lines in the Paleocene, about 66 million years ago. At that time the northern continents (North America, Asia, and Europe) were still joined to form Laurasia. Some molecular clock studies have placed the divergence of rodents from other mammals even earlier, into the late Cretaceous (72 to 100 million years ago).
Otters belong to the family Mustelidae, which includes weasels, badgers, otters, martens, and wolverines. The mustellids are in the order Carnivora. This order is divided into the suborder Feliformia ("cat-like" Carnivora, such as large [lions and tigers] and small cats [domestic cats, fishing cats], mongooses, and hyenas) and the suborder Caniformia ("dog-like" Carnivora, like foxes, bears, dogs, wolves, skunks, and seals). The first Carnivora fossils first appear about 60 million years ago (Paleocene) in North America and then spread through the other Laurasian continents. As North America and South America joined via the Isthmus of Panama about 3 - 7 million years ago, many North American placental mammals invaded South America; these invaders replaced many of the marsupial mammals that had evolved there (the Great American Biotic Interchange). In turn, a few marsupial species invaded North America, such as the Virginia opossum and the common opossum (which ranges from northern South America through Central America to southern Mexico).
The closest sister group to the Mustelidae appears to be the Procyonidae (raccoons and coatis). Also closely related to this group are the skunks and the red panda (not the giant panda, which is a mostly herbivorous bear, of the Himalayas and southwestern China). The closest relative of these families (comprising the superfamily Musteloidea) is the Pinnipedia (seals, sea lions, walrus) and Ursidae (bears).
Steve
Last edited:
BriGuy
Life of the Party
We often have four or five squirrels raiding a suet bell. It's gone in a day or two. We just bought a "peppered" suet bell that the squirrels don't like but the birds don't mind. It works! The squirrels leave it alone, but the regular group of chickadees, towhees, finches, etc. snack away. We found it at Wild Birds Unlimited, but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere.
Our squirrels are fat enough...
Thank you Steve. Your in depth reports on flora and fauna on the forum are greatly appreciated and are a highlight to my early morning coffee hours. My wife thought this one was cute. I mentioned to her that I believed they can carry the plague. Response: Soo…
Gyrfalcon22
Legend
I love snow for the tracks of creatures left behind. I visited a cemetery on the coast that has a really big and steep hill. If I time it right the bottom is bare and the top has snow. A week back this happened. It is well known for cougar and deer by the neighbors who live in the edges. Behind the cemetery is endless forest into the Olympics eventually.
Saw some good-sized cat prints- including an impressive set of hops that had at least 1O-11 feet between them.
Saw some good-sized cat prints- including an impressive set of hops that had at least 1O-11 feet between them.
Last edited:
Not the mammal itself, but it was a big kitty!
When my wife and I visited Crazy Horse memorial (I jokingly call it Charley Horse) there was a large ball of fur lying near the base of the ongoing sculpture and I asked the guide what it was. He said he wasn't sure but it was either a marmot or a gorilla. I went with marmot. I was also a little abashed cuz I've seen marmots in Oregon.
