Top Photo: Otter latrine. I’ve been documenting the occurrence of otters in our wetlands since before 2010 when I saw tracks of one of the mustelids on snow covered ice in the wetlands. On one occasion during that time period I saw a large golden shiner, about 10” (they can reach 12”) floating in the water next to the Main Wetlands Overlook. It had a u-shaped mark on the middle portion of its body, as if something had grasped theRead more
Posts tagged: #otter
A Disturbance in the Wetlands
Top Photo: Ripples in the water. Near the end of the day, two museum visitors coming up from the wetlands in Explore the Wild stopped me to ask a question, “Are there otters in the wetlands?” Apparently, they’d seen something that “looked very much like an otter.” I thought perhaps they’d seen a mink. I’ve seen mink fairly often down in the wetlands. But when our guests mentioned there were two of them, a picture of frolicking otters flashed acrossRead more
Tracks in Ice
As I stood on the Main Wetlands Overlook, I noticed a track of smooth ice coming from the willows on the north side of the Wetlands and heading directly towards the platform on which I stood. The track was frozen over, but frozen over more recently than the surrounding ice. Obviously, some creature had swum through the ice when it was slushy, creating a trail and the trail had subsequently frozen over. I looked over the rail at theRead more
Life and Death in the Wetlands
I first saw the snake in the photo as it was swimming in the shade of the willows at the edge of the Wetlands. It slowly crawled out of the water and onto one of the trees. Up it went until it found a limb to its liking and proceeded to follow it out to its end. I assume it was looking for bird nests in the willows, there’s much catbird activity in the area. Apparently finding no nest inRead more
Another Snow Day in the Wild
I’ve been working on a couple of new entries to the blog and had hoped to have them posted by now. The recent snow which came to town on January 30 closed the Museum for a few days and I haven’t had the time to complete my work. I did, however, manage to get a few photos of some interesting happenings out on the Outdoor Exhibits trails… Finding tracks in the snow is fun, but it’s fleeting. The snow thatRead more