In what ended up being a circumnavigation of the Olympic Peninsula, my wife and stopped at Ediz Hook at Port Angeles to see if there might be some migrating shorebirds and ducks about. But this mid-August trip appeared to be too early and it was pretty barren of wildlife. But that all changed when we drove near the public end of the hook just outside the Coast Guard Station at the tip. Again, there was still nothing happening on the ocean side, but we saw a river otter swimming in a small cove adjacent to the public boat launch.
This is the same species that you would see in a freshwater pond or river across North America; but this species treats the Salish Sea as simply a very big river. Yes, there are sea otters in Washington but they are almost exclusively found in a small section of the coast north of Kalaloch. An adult male river otter typically weighs 25 pounds and may be three feet with its long tail.
So, river otters are not uncommon in the Salish Sea, but this individual really put on a show for us. It swam to the shore of a little cove not 50’ from us.
It groomed a bit on the gravel shoreline.
The river otter then proceeded to waddle, as they do on land, up the shore to a derelict building. There, it drank from a plastic container that probably contained freshwater, a container likely refilled by folks who care for the feral cats on the spit. It then waddled to the upper part of the beach and rubbed its body into the fine dry sand – drying off. This was followed by more grooming followed by a very quick otter nap.
But they are never still for long. Back into the cove. I followed it visually as it crossed toward the rock rip-rap that separates this cove from the boat launch. It popped to the surface with something that flashed white in its mouth. It then climbed out onto the rocks at the edge of the rip-rap.
By the time that we have walked around and could find a good view of it, it was munching on an 8” starry flounder (the white was the non-eyed side of the flounder). It started with the head. Finally, the only section left was the tail and the caudal peduncle. Soon enough, that disappeared as well.
Its late lunch concluded, the river otter swam back to the beach by the abandoned building. Waddled up the beach and up to the building for another drink and disappeared from our view. When we rushed over, we found it rubbing its body in the dried wood chips inside of a rotting tree trunk on the shore.
After a few minutes of that, it waddled back to the water and headed off. A very cool 45-minute encounter.
Steve
This is the same species that you would see in a freshwater pond or river across North America; but this species treats the Salish Sea as simply a very big river. Yes, there are sea otters in Washington but they are almost exclusively found in a small section of the coast north of Kalaloch. An adult male river otter typically weighs 25 pounds and may be three feet with its long tail.
So, river otters are not uncommon in the Salish Sea, but this individual really put on a show for us. It swam to the shore of a little cove not 50’ from us.
It groomed a bit on the gravel shoreline.
The river otter then proceeded to waddle, as they do on land, up the shore to a derelict building. There, it drank from a plastic container that probably contained freshwater, a container likely refilled by folks who care for the feral cats on the spit. It then waddled to the upper part of the beach and rubbed its body into the fine dry sand – drying off. This was followed by more grooming followed by a very quick otter nap.
But they are never still for long. Back into the cove. I followed it visually as it crossed toward the rock rip-rap that separates this cove from the boat launch. It popped to the surface with something that flashed white in its mouth. It then climbed out onto the rocks at the edge of the rip-rap.
By the time that we have walked around and could find a good view of it, it was munching on an 8” starry flounder (the white was the non-eyed side of the flounder). It started with the head. Finally, the only section left was the tail and the caudal peduncle. Soon enough, that disappeared as well.
Its late lunch concluded, the river otter swam back to the beach by the abandoned building. Waddled up the beach and up to the building for another drink and disappeared from our view. When we rushed over, we found it rubbing its body in the dried wood chips inside of a rotting tree trunk on the shore.
After a few minutes of that, it waddled back to the water and headed off. A very cool 45-minute encounter.
Steve
