Subject: [Tweeters] Eclipse mallards and an otter
Date: Aug 29 12:46:08 2007
From: Rob Sandelin - floriferous at msn.com


At Temple Pond at Lord Hill Park in Snohomish yesterday there was a ruckus
on the far side of the pond. I could hear splashing and quacking but not see
what was happening. I climbed a pond side tree to get a better view but by
that time everything had settled down. Then on the edge of the lake I saw an
otter eating a duck. There have been a group of 5 eclipse plumage mallards
in the lake this month and yesterday I counted 3. It got me thinking about
the habits of river otters and I wondered if they actually move into small
lakes and ponds to pick up ducks which can not fly away.

Later that morning a Red-tail swooped down quite close to snatch a huge
townsends vole from the grass. The hawk sat on the ground briefly giving me
the eye, then carried its breakfast out of sight into the trees. It was a
good morning in the park as I also got good looks at a coopers hawk and a
pair of young weasels who kept sort of jumping over each other as they ran
through the grass. Lots of interesting insects out as well.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
Snohomish County, WA