Lake Critters

Rain clouds interspersed with blue filled the sky this morning.  It was cool with occasional showers as I set out on my run around Clear Lake.  Despite being only the second day of this year's delayed fishing season, there were only two boats out on the Lake.  As I stood at Otter Beach enjoying a brief bit of sunshine,  I heard a plop in the cattails next to me.  I'd seen a muskrat in the area only a week or so earlier.  I suspected the plop was from a startled muskrat.  I've lived next to this lake for almost 20 years now and have only seen a muskrat four or five times.

I'm always on the lookout for one of the four kinds of critters I know live in and around the lake.  The most common is the raccoon.  They're seen quite often up in the neighborhood roaming around in search of treasures.  The cat that lives at my house hates raccoons with a passion.  Whenever he sees one out of a window he begins to growl like a dog.  Cat is missing an ear and I suspect a raccoon may have been involved with its removal.  My favorite place to encounter a raccoon is along the shoreline as viewed from my kayak.  I often wish I had a camera with me to capture some of the raccoon scenes.  I once saw a family of four raccoons all sticking their heads out of various opening of an old hollow tree.  Post card cute!

Going up in the number of sighting for me is the otter.  Over the years I've seen plenty of otters.  Usually I've seen family groups with up to eight individuals.  I often hear them chomping on snails or crayfish right after a dive.  They pop their heads up out of the water looking quite a bit like a small seal.   One time right after a snowfall I saw a whole family sliding around playfully on the old bridge dock near Otter Beach.  They saw me and after an inquisitive look slid off into the water one by one.  An adult, presumably the mother was the last one in.  I haven't seen much otter action this springtime so far.  The occasional sightings have all been a lone otter.  About a month ago I saw an otter eating the remains of a water fowl of some sort.  That was the only time I've ever seen an otter feasting on anything other than small lake shellfish.  The otter is one of my all time favorite animals.  They seem to be always happy and playful.

There are two Beaver Lodges on the two interconnect lakes here where I live.  The most recently constructed is near Otter Beach in what I call Turtle Cove.  The other is in the upper section of Blue Lake which is connected to Clear Lake by a short small stream.  As I paddle around the shoreline of either lake I always see evidence of beaver work.  I've only seen a beaver here three times despite my daily visits to various sections of the lakes.  I've learned that beavers do most of thier work at night and are more likely seen in the evening rather than the morning.

Which brings it all back to the Muskrat.  Muskrat is something like a small beaver with a rat tail and a hunger for smaller vegetation in and along the Lake.  Even thought I've had fewer sightings, I suspect the Muskrat is quite more prolific here and simply lives in a more secluded manner.

I started this short entry way back in May.  It's now September.  I've seen Muskrat twice since May.  I just recently started seeing a lot more Otter action.  Yesterday I was paddling upwind into the waves when I was startled by a splash right next to my Kayak... an Otter!  Maybe a quarter of a mile farther along the Lakeshore I encountered three otters swimming together.  The Beaver?  Haven't seen Beaver all Summer long.  Raccoon?  I encounter them almost daily.  I love the way they wash their hands.