Ahh, life… It just never ceases to amaze.
Today I was down by my boat doing some bird watching after washing the dock off – the wind was too much and I did not want to get blown off of the dock into the water. I got in the boat and using it as a big blind I am able to watch birds and not be noticed.
A couple of Canada geese were swimming by, and there was another goose behind them. It was not a Canada goose but a Greater White-fronted Goose. But there he was, just hanging out with them like he was one of them. They really did not seem to mind. There were also the usual assortment of gull, three mallards, a few more pair of Canada geese, bufflehead, and pigeon guillemot, and a couple of crows and bald eagles thrown in for good measure. I even got to watch a kingfisher do what kingfishers do. Fish.
I left and did a few more maintenance things around the island. Then I came home for lunch. After a giant salad, I went outside to work on a little bit of firewood. As I was walking toward the pile of wood, I noticed something on the other side of the shop running from the garage. I went back toward the house to see what it was.
Much to my surprise, it was a couple of otters running through my yard! I think I started them as much as much as they startled me! There is not a lot of water up here on top by the cabin, so I find it odd that they were up here.
They ran under the mudroom on the back of the house. I knew there was a hole on the other side so I went and sat down on a log just outside the back door and watched and two little heads popped out! The biggest one, which I think was probably an adult, carefully crawled out and ran up the side of the house. It repeated this behavior a couple of times, but the smaller one never did come out. I am not sure if it was a youngster, like a juvenile, or perhaps a small female. I really don’t know. I took several pictures and send them off to the biologist so she can let me know what’s going on with it. I think they are river otters. Everything I have read that I could find leads me to believe that.
Unfortunately, it was a little windy today. I was hoping to get out on the water today, but it was pretty breezy. I am told the summertime the wind tends to calm down quite a bit. That would be nice!
