Although I haven't observed it myself, I've heard enough about the predatory behaviors of River Otters to believe that they are tenacious, adept and will take on all kinds of prey, fish, bird, and even mammal. Dalquest describes trying to collect bats with a shotgun and having otters snatch the bats as soon as they hit the water. This was on the shoreline of San Juan Island, I believe. I recently heard of some interesting stalking behavior of River Otters after coots on the Columbia River above Wanapam dam. The otters were clearly hunting the coots from underneath the water. At Long Lake, in Kitsap County, otters got into a pen with expensive exotic fowl and killed and ate a number of them. At Tanwax Lake, I heard a description of a Canada Goose being overtaken by something under the water that gave a moment's warning with a bow wave before the goose was pulled under. I think it must have been an otter (though there are tales of a Loch Ness type creature in the lake... oooh scary).

River otters are known to be capable of wreaking havoc on turtle populations. With their strong jaws, they can tear plastron from carapace to get at the soft parts.

All in all, they're a respectable predator.

Kelly McAllister
Olympia, Washington
----- Original Message -----
From: Eric Kowalczyk
To: tweeters
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 5:09 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Juanita otters and cots



This afternoon, watched a pair of river otters slowly swim and dive off the west boardwalk at Juanita.... hundreds of coots were in several different rafts and kept their distances.



Eric Kowalczyk
Seattle

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Frodo: I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. .... And that is an encouraging thought.




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