I found this female Sea Otter in the harbour. She was eating a clam and seemed very friendly. I know she is a female because of that pink on her nose. That pink is actually scar tissue. The male grabs her by the nose during mating. Otter sex is rough on the female.
I found this male Sea Otter lazing about. When he saw me he looked surprised!
This male Sea Otter found a tasty clam. Sea Otters use their tummies as a table.
As you remember,yesterday I found the carcass of a Sea Otter. I towed it to shore & tied it to a tree so it wouldn’t float away. I had decided to travel all the way down the inlet to grab my trail camera.I was going to set it up looking at the carcass in hopes of some wolves coming over for dinner?
Well……….they did, but they started without me! When I came into Tsapee Narrows I found both the Daredevil & Delilah on the carcass. I thought I’d go to shore & check it out? I found it had all been eaten! I was very disappointed! A pack of wolves must of come through during the night. They ate the whole thing & even took the head! Must be those head hunting wolves.
So much for my plan!
I believe that this is an adult female?How do I know that? ….the nose. The reason why that nose is pink is because of scar tissue.The males usually grab the females neck to make her stay put while he mates with her but they also grab the nose as well.The nose is very sensitive! She doesn’t stay still & so the nose is damaged.
I came across “Lilly” swimming through the harbour.She was heading westward & I was heading eastward. She seemed approachable. I noticed her nose was recently injured! It had to of been done by a male Sea Otter. When the males mate with the females they grab them by the nose so as to make them stay still. There almost always is a struggle & as a result the females nose gets injured. It’ll heal & become pinkish in colour.
If you see a Otter with a pinkish nose,it’s female.
It seems every time I see a Sea Otter,the light is poor! Don’t have good luck with these guys. They normally stay on the outside & I almost always only go on the inside. So I do not run into them very often.
I found this female around Strawberry island.
This is a female Sea Otter. How do I know? It has a pink nose. How did it get a pink nose?
When the male mates with her,he grabs her nose with his teeth to force her to submit to him. Many times there is a struggle & her nose gets injured. When the nose heals,it has a pink spot to it.
See no pink……..it must be a male,or a female that is too young.
I wish I knew he was around when the sun was up!! I’ll have to keep a eye out for him from now on!
A friend phoned me about this guy today! I couldn’t come & take any shots at that moment unfortunatly! It sounded like a Gull was trying to steal it’s catch!
By the time I came along,the light had gotten snuffed! So this isn’t a great shot but I hardly ever see these guys! Normally it’s the River Otters I see & yes I did see one of them today as well!
Because of the nose pattern,this may be one I called “Pinky”?
I’m calling this guy “PINKY” because of his/her nose!
This is a first for me!
I have never seen a Sea Otter down the Inlet before! These guys prefer the coastal environment. I was pleasantly surprised to come across it!
I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get close to it however! It was calm out and I’m sure it heard me coming long before I ever saw it!
This Sea Otter was floating on this raft of Bull Kelp and wisely stayed put while the pod went underneath him!
Orca’s will search kelp beds to see if anybody is hiding in there?
He lived to be cute for another day!
I was looking around with my binoculars and after awhile was going to leave ,when I spotted these guys. They were wrapped up in the kelp. They like to do that. It keeps them stationary and is kind of like a security blanket. I was on the wrong side of the light, plus they spotted me and I was busted. They became wary!
Next time ,I’m going to have to drift into them from uptide and on the right side of the light.
This Otter acted like a Grouse. He lead me away from the family! He used himself as bait to lead me away. The others disappeared,so I followed him.
I think he was looking over to make sure everyone was safe?
There was no way that I was going to follow him over to this spot!
Because I’ve never been here before,I did not know where the shoals were. I also had to keep a eye out for the kelp beds! Tricky stuff to say the least.
If I were to camp on Tree island for a few days, I would get a better idea of the geography.
It’s funny,but the only trouble I had really had with kelp was right out in front of Deadman Island! I wasn’t watching while I slowly puttering around watching Romeo and Juliette and got snagged in a free floating patch of kelp. It stalled the motor when it wound around the prop and I had to kick the motor up and cut myself free! It was so heavy that it took several attempts at trying to lift the motor up!
If your not mindful ALL the time,something is going to trip you up sooner or later!
Tofino Photography 