Northern River Otter (Lontra canadensis)

During the winter a walk along the West Bay Walkway will enable you to see a half-dozen different kinds of waterfowl. Now that spring in here, however, they are all pretty much gone. There are a few Mallard Ducks and Canada Geese but the Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, Mergansers (Common and Hooded), and Harlequins are all off somewhere nesting and raising the next generation. However, animals that have not been so visible in the winter are now re-appearing. I've seen more Blacktail Deer in the last couple of weeks than I did all winter. And, on the weekend, I saw the fellow above, a River Otter (Lontra canadensis), fishing with a friend in Sailor's Cove. Otters don't hibernate in winter but do apparently spend more time in their holts.

Who Needs Meerkats...

...when you've got otters?

Watch the video below to see this little guy do his Meerkat imitation (stand on his hind legs and look unbelievably cute)(at 1:10 of the video). Take five minutes and play with the otters. This trio seems to have taken up permanent residence on the West Bay Walkway. I see them now almost every morning.

Otter Trio

This trio of Northern River Otters (Lontra canadensis) was hanging out on shoreline of the Westbay Walkway for a couple of days last week. They seemed quite unconcerned about passersby who stopped to watch them at their fishing. When they had enough of the small fish that were in abundance then they crawled out onto the rocks to scratch and groom themselves and each other, as can be seen in the short video below.

Otter Breakfast

This is the same otter as pictured yesterday, a few minutes later. He climbed out onto the rocky shore in order to enjoy quite a large fish he had caught. It was still flopping about and it took more than a few bites with those sharp teeth to kill it. Otters are social animals and you can see another otter swimming on the right in the background.

North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis)

It always gives me a thrill to see wildlife here in the city and it has been some time since I was privileged to sight an otter. Although he was swimming yesterday in the salt water near the shoreline along the Westsong Walkway, he's a North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) and not a Sea Otter. Sea Otters are found in the coastal waters of Vancouver Island but not in the Victoria area. I particularly like to see otters because they are sometimes used as an indicator of pollution - they are very sensitive to pollution.

Copycat

It's always fun to watch the Harbour Seals at Fisherman's Wharf greeting the tourists and sharing some sashimi. However, I was surprised to see this year that another harbour resident has learned about the free fish - that's a River Otter popping up there to see what the tourists have to offer.

Otter Family

While I occasionally catch a glimpse of a Northern River Otter here and there as I walk along the West Song or West Bay Walkways I have not before seen an entire family. This group of five was busily catching something in the seaweed along the shoreline. I particularly like that about 30 seconds into the video you can see they all take notice of me and while they don't panic, they nevertheless disappear fairly quickly shortly after. To see such abundant wildlife here in the city always seems like a privilege to me and something we should treasure carefully. Below is a brief video of this group of five.

In-Flight Entertainment

We have had very low tides recently and the consequent exposure of tidal flats that are normally covered with water seems to be encouraging increased activity amongst the Great Blue Herons. While I often see one on my morning walk along the West Bay Walkway, I seldom see more than one. Yesterday I saw three in various places along the walkway fishing in the shallows where the water is normally much deeper. I also saw a River Otter just offshore yesterday but there was little of him visible but his head popping up above the water from time to time to do some vigorous chewing and swallowing.

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Why Great Blue Heron? When I look at the above photo I see lots of gray, some black and orange, some yellow and white but no blue of any shade. There is also a "Green" Heron which is equally un-green if the photos are anything to go by. One doesn't mind if the Latin names for plants and animals don't communicate much except to ancient Romans, but generally one expects the common names to refer to some distinctive aspect of the plant or animal. Oh well, sometimes life is just plain disappointing. Things don't make sense and there is not even any good reason for the confusion.