Otters in the Big Island Lake Wilderness Area

On a walk along Kentucky Trail, the west boundary of the Big Island Lake Wilderness Area, I noticed these tracks of an otter in the snow. We returned on skis, and followed them through the woods. They eventually disappeared into a hole in the ice of Little Island Lake.

River Otters are frequently seen in the Big Island Lake Wilderness Area. They are one of the largest members of the weasel family, and generally average about 20lbs and about four feet in length. Some large males can get up to almost six feet and 40lbs, but I doubt those are from around here!

When the lake is open, we see them frequently from our deck overlooking Blush Lake. They eat fish,(primarily slow ones) clams, crayfish, and have been known to hunt muskrats and beaver, as well as other small animals. They travel cross-country through the woods between the lakes in the area as readily as following the streams.

We have had two "close encounters" while kayaking on the lake, once while along the far shore, a family of four came into the lake from the north. They fished and dove for clams, crunching them loudly as they moved south. We gave them plenty of room, and watched them play along the logs on the South shore. Later, after they had left, we came back across the lake, and noticed a floating clam which had been bitten in half floating on the surface.

Another time I was letting the wind push me across the lake. I noticed as I got close to shore that an otter was busy eating clams on a log on the south end of the lake. I watched silently as I drifted closer. Suddenly, when I was about thirty feet away, it lifted its head, looked straight at me and growled! I quickly back paddled back out into the lake and left him to his lunch

Otters are evident here on Blush Lake in the winter too. Holes in the ice appear and disappear, which I am convinced the otters make. Although the lakes are frozen,and there is usually a pocket of air below the ice which the otters can use, these holes open mysteriously, appearing off and on in different areas of the lake. They seem to relate to times when we see otter tracks in the snow, although the tracks do not go to the holes. I am keeping watch, and have the telescope trained on the lake-- at some point I hope to see a little brown head looking back at me.