I worked on one of the barren islands in the gulf of alaska some yeras ago and we had a family of river otters going through seabirds, mostly puffins, and a fearsome rate. We would see them from time to time, but more often we would just find the remanants of their feasts, feathers, wings, a few bones, the plates from their bills. Sometimes as many as 10 or so birds evident in those remains. Obviously those otters swam out there - I've no idea whether they were resident or not, but folks who'd spent many summers out there said they came out each season specifically for the breeding birds. Puffins, especially, would be fairly easy to catch, living in burrows as they do, though, with those bills they're far from defenseless. My guess would be river otters are fairly opportunistic, and will eat birds, will even rely on them for a majority of their diet, if the resource presents itself. Coots are often present in large numbers, so...

Gavin
Seattle


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