Tag Archives: otter

Log Boom with Mark

My buddy, Mark, was heading through the region on his way south but he had a little time to kill.  We agreed to meet up late in the afternoon to see what the traffic was like at Kenmore.  He comes from Vancouver, so floatplanes are not a novelty for him, but a different operator is some variety I guess.  I am always happy to watch floatplanes.  I got there a little before him and got a couple of extra movements but there was still enough happening once he showed up.  Log Boom Park provides a good spot to watch the planes from, but the summer can be trickier as it becomes a popular spot for the local kids to hang out and swim.  Fortunately, the day was cooler, so we weren’t surrounded by kids.

Most of the planes approached from down the lake and came straight in but there was one Cessna that decided the southerly wind necessitated the approach over Kenmore.  I would like more of those to be honest as they provide some interesting angles, but it was just the one this time.

Otter Carnage

Friday evening after work, the sun was out and, with the time having changed, it wasn’t getting dark too early.  I decided to have a stroll down at Juanita Bay Park before going home.  Of course, the camera came with me.  Things were pretty quiet, and I was taking a few photos but decided it was time to head home.  As I turned to walk back, I saw a friend of mine, Lee, walking towards me.  I was about to greet him when he started running towards me and called out “otters”!

I turned around a pair of otters were swimming across the bay towards us.  They came towards the little island area and climbed out on to the shore.  It is a bit difficult to get a shot there, but I managed a few.  They moved along the shore and then back into the water.  They headed out to the middle of the bay.  Clearly, they were planning on hunting so we gave them a little time.  A short while later, one appeared on the surface with what looked like a fish.

Often, when the otters have a catch, they go to a buoy to eat it but, this time, they seemed to be heading back our way.  I was hoping that they would come up on the beach to eat.  Amazingly, that’s exactly what they did.  However, it wasn’t a fish that they had caught.  It was a duck of some sort.  One of them had caught it and it didn’t seem interested in sharing too much.  It proceeded to chomp down on its meal.

The sound of a otter’s teeth crunching the skull of a duck was hard to miss as it made it’s way through its meal.  The second otter was keen to share but the first one would the carcass up and turn around to try and avoid the interloper.  This was repeated several times.  In due course, it decided it was done and just left the remains.  I suspect some bits just aren’t that tasty.  While I did get stills, the eating process was far more interesting as video, so I shot more of that.  The feathers everywhere looked quite funny as they got stuck on the otter’s head while it ripped into the body.

Eagle Stealing A Snack

The eagles that live around Juanita Bay are busy hunters.  However, hunting requires a load of effort and it is surely easier to steal someone else’s meal.  An otter had caught a fish and climbed on to one of the buoys that mark the protected area of the bay to eat it.  As it got close to finishing, one of the eagles swooped in and grabbed the remainder of what it had.  The otter didn’t seem too bothered so maybe it had eaten the best of the meal and was okay to let the eagle take it without a fight.  The eagle went to the osprey perch and then ate whatever was left.

Otter Blowing Bubbles

While looking at some shots of this otter swimming in Juanita Bay, I noticed it was breathing out through its nose and creating some bubbles in the water ahead of it.  It seemed like a silly thing but of course will happen all of the time when they are swimming.  However, I like the idea that it is being silly and doing it on purpose so let’s go with that instead.

Otter Skirting The Bay

We have a few otters that are regulars in Juanita Bay.  One afternoon, while waiting to see what would show up, one of them could be seen swimming along the shoreline across the inlet from where I was.  It seemed to be on the move rather than hunting so the question was where would it go?  It headed right into the inlet and then came along the shore.  It would pop out of the water on to the land and wander a little before slipping back into the water.

It came around the edge of the inlet and up towards where we were on the boardwalk.  Would it try and cross under us?  No, it continued along the edge of the water swimming and then climbing on to land again.  Back to the water, around the edge of the inlet and then around to the open part of the bay.  It stayed close to the edge but kept on moving and disappeared around the corner and to the larger lake.  At its closest, it was in the long grass which meant getting a clear shot was tricky.  Still, it was pretty close for a long time which is unusual for the otters.

Down in the Slough at Kenmore

It has taken a while for this post from the 75th anniversary celebrations at Kenmore Air.  They operated one of the planes from the slough that runs alongside the base.  They had back taxied one of the Otters to start its takeoff run from earlier to mean it was taking off close to the spectators.  Then, when landing, they brought it down in the slough again.  It made for a great view of the plane compared to the normal departures and arrivals way out in Lake Washington.

Otter Underwater

Photographing animals underwater through glass walls on their enclosures is a bit hit or miss.  The otters in one of the enclosures at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo were playing near the glass a lot so I figured I would give it a go.  You aren’t going to get razor sharp shots since that glass is very thick but sometimes it can work out okay.  This otter was more than happy to perform for the camera.

Wind And Rain Have A Benefit Sometimes

I may have complained a little about the weather being damp and windy during our trip to Victoria but there was one upside to this.  Unfortunately, it took one missed opportunity before I realized.  The wind was strong and from the west.  The normal approach for Harbour Air is to come in through the opening to the harbor and then touch down in the outer area before taxiing into the Inner Harbour.  With the wind coming from the opposite direction, they reversed the flow.

I had seen this once before on a previous visit to Victoria many years ago and had forgotten it could happen.  Our hotel was located right on the corner of the shoreline around which the planes would approach and we had a view out of our (not huge) window as they came around to touch down.  The first time I realized I could get the shot, I had to make so with shooting through the window.  This does not do much for image quality but it was still okay and I got an Otter coming in.

The next time something was due, I planned ahead.  The window of our room did open but it only opened a very small amount.  Not enough to get a camera out of except when looking off to one side.  However, the restriction on opening was the result of a small screw that was in the track for the window and it was not very securely fastened.  With my fingertip, I was able to remove the screw and with that out of the way, the window could fully open.  A Twin Otter was on the way so this time I was ready to get a clearer shot.  There is plenty of warning of their arrival because the sound of the props reaches you long before the plane does.  Besides, they are on final approach so hardly going too fast.  The only downside to this shot is that the touchdown location is further around and out of sight of where we were.  Bad weather can have its benefits.

Harbour Air Movements In The Rain

I had a bit of time one morning during our Victoria stay to walk along the shoreline.  The hotel that we were staying in was right on the shore so I only had to step outside and then I could walk around to the more open are of the harbor.  This also meant I could get some shots of the Harbour Air operations.  Their floatplane base is in the Inner Harbour area but the planes taxi out to the outer areas for departure.

I was able to get some shots of arrivals and departures as well as taxiing planes.  Some of those I could shoot from our hotel window when I wanted to stay dry!  I was happy to shoot the Otter movements but I was more interested in the Twin Otters.  We have plenty of Otters around here with Kenmore but Twin Otters are not common down here so some variety was welcome.  Besides, it is a bigger plane so a little easier to shoot at a distance!

Otters in the Sammamish

With mum visiting from the UK, we took a walk along the Sammamish River Trail.  The river was very high as a result of the heavy rains we had experienced in the preceding days.  The river has otters living in it and I was hoping we might see one.  As it turned out, we saw four.  A group of four otters was moving up river diving for food as they went.  I wished I had brought a longer lens with me but you go with what you have.  Of course, they chose to stay on the other side of the river for much of the time but it was fun to watch them anyway.  They got a lot of attention from the other people on the trail too.