Somes Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary

7 days ago

Similar to the red fox presence profiled in the last post, this rocky steep terrain is not typically thought of as prime otter habitat, but it is befitting of the place name Otter Point. I looked up "Otter Point" in Henry Raup's book Place Names of Mount Desert Island and the Cranberry Islands, Maine and it says that the origin comes from Otter Creek which was known to have a plentiful otter population long ago. There are mentions from 1868 and 1888 documents that by those dates the otters were no longer found there. For Otter Point (cape): "Some assume that the cape was named for otters; however, the evidence suggests that otters were found at Otter Creek, and the name gradually migrated to the cape and cliffs."

There's no doubt that the rocky steep zone well above the ocean had been traversed by a river otter a day or two before our visit Friday, and other signs have been seen in recent weeks by others.

River otters are very comfortable going back and forth between near shore ocean water and freshwater lakes and streams. With our lakes and many stream sections frozen over, foraging in the ocean is more likely now. The rocky coastline in this part of Maine does not lend itself to easy movement close to shore, but that doesn't stop otters from making longer distance moves high up in the cliff zone. ... See MoreSee Less

Somes Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary

7 days ago

We weren't expecting to see signs of red fox activity along the rugged Otter Cliffs high above the ocean, but we found it on our walk last Friday. Red foxes are opportunist foragers and can be found in a wide range of habitats. What we saw certainly reinforced how wide that range can be. ... See MoreSee Less

Somes Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary

1 week ago

Cold, but beautiful sunny day for last Friday's walk at Otter Point in Acadia National Park. We found some amazing fox and otter trails above the cliffs in very challenging terrain, but more on those in the next posts. ... See MoreSee Less