Otters and Objects

Date: 2/23/2022

Hours: 2

Event: Level A data, dump run

Eagle on otter.

Today there was a report of a dead sea otter at Mariner Park. In the picture sent in, there was an eagle on the body. When we got to the park, we couldn't find the otter right away. Diondre was taking pictures of an eagle and after further inspection, we realized that the eagle was at the otter. So now whenever I see an eagle on the beach, I look to see if there is an otter. In addition, by the time we arrived, some of the organs were exposed, suggesting that the eagle was trying to eat it. In the pictures below, the first picture is the picture that the caller took, and the second picture is one that we took when we arrived, so the eagle appeared to expose the organs in a couple of hours.

Otter when the caller found it.

Otter when we arrived.

Eagle at the dump.

Eagle pellet found at the harbor.

After this, Debbie got a call from the harbor master who said that there was a dead otter at Land's End. We went to check it out and we believe that it was an otter that we had already responded to. So, to avoid more confusion, we took that otter to the dump, as well as the other otter we found on Land's End last week, which was no longer frozen to the rock. At the dump, there were many eagles and Julia, who worked with me last semester for Winged Whale Research, is doing a project with eagles. A couple of weeks ago, we found a hair ball at the harbor that contained fur, a sea urchin, and bones. After further research, we learned that it was an eagle pellet. So, Julia is looking at eagle pellets from the harbor versus eagle pellets from the dump to see if there is a difference in their diet.

Date: 2/24/2022

Hours: 2

Event: Beach walk on Bishop's Beach

Car found on beach.

Diondre with car parts in the background.

Today we walked Bishop's Beach to see if we could find any dead otters. We found a car and some car parts. Debbie told us that, back in the day, there was a charge to get rid of your old car, so people would put something on the accelerator and drive it off a cliff to get rid of it. It was also low tide, so I was looking at the organisms in the tide pools as well as starfish for my research project.

Tide pool.

Blue mussels.

Barnacles.

Dead otter with visible bones.

Skull and vertebrae.

In the end, we did end up finding an otter, but it was highly decomposed and there were bones sticking out everywhere.

Ribs.

Date: 2/25/2022

Hours: 1.5

Event: Level A data on 2 dead sea otters at Bishop's Beach, filled out level A data forms

Couch on the beach.

Dead otter pup.

Today there was a report of a dead sea otter near the parking lot at Bishop's Beach. Upon arrival, I could not find the otter. Instead, I found a couch which made me wonder how that got there. As I was walking the beach, a man's dog came over to say hi. The man also came over, so I asked him if he had seen a dead otter recently. He showed me a seeming emaciated, dead pup buried in the sand that he saw 12 days ago. He said that he always walks the beach and always reports dead otters. He mentioned how he walks to Diamond Creek and Anchor Point and has recently found 4 dead otters. He also said he's seen dead seals, sea lions, whales, and a shark, but these are rare events. He said that Diondre and I could walk with him someday and he can show us where he has seen the dead otters near Diamond Creek.

After this, I texted the SeaLife Center about the otter pup, thinking that it was the right otter, but the SeaLife Center said that that was not the otter that was called in. But I still I took level A measurements and tagged it. I then proceeded to look for the otter that was called in and immediately found it. It was a male adult that had blood on its nose. I took the level A measurements and tagged it. I also filled out the level A data form for these otters to send to the SeaLife Center and Fish and Wildlife.

LEVEL-A-FORM-2017.pdf

Download PDF • 604KB

Fire I made on beach.

Next week

Next week I hope to perform more beach walks and hopefully walk with Phil, who I met Friday. For my Outdoor Adeventure class, we walked down the Diamond Head trail to the beach where we practiced making fires. I was looking for otters on the beach but didn't see any. That being said, I know now how to access that beach, so doing beach walks may be beneficial because not a lot of otters are reported along this beach. In addition, Diondre and I have a meeting to talk about the Marine Mammal Forum going on in April since we are going to present our educational materials such as our brochure and poster, while Caroline will be giving a presentation on sea otters in Kachemak Bay.