After this adventure, I sent my observations to the old Otternet Message Board:

January 27 -- I took advantage of the warm calm morning - 20 degrees and no wind - and set out for Otter Hole Pond at 6:45am. I reached a tree overlooking the granite cliff, where I think the otters stay, at 7:15. I heard a few cracks but knew that could just be from the ice warming up.

A little before 7:30 an otter darted out on the snow below me, promptly twisted onto its back and stretched and squirmed on the hard icy snow. Then it flipped on its feet, took a few licks of snow, sauntered over to yesterday's offering, aimed and let fly. Its tail was up and straight, the rest of its body did the rhumba. It was more a spray than a glob. That done it sniffed down the rocks and began digging - to where I could not see.

Meanwhile I heard a splash below me so I knew there were two otters. The commotion ended below so I focused my eyes and camcorder on the hole in the ice by the dam. I heard ice cracking, but to my surprise the otter head popped out of a little hole further down the dam. I could see the water at the big hole roiling but if the otter was there it was in the shadows. I waited for the otters to bring up some fish for nothing beats seeing an otter gargling fish, but all was quiet.

Then I made the mistake of going on the ice and hiding myself atop of foot thick blossom of clear ice nestled between the trunks of fours small dead trees. I could see the rocks on one side and hole by the dam on the other. Meanwhile I heard the beavers mewing in the lodge nearby. I blamed the otters. Then I heard the unmistakable snort of an otter right below me. Impossible! Sound is tricky around ice. Then an otter head popped out by the rocks, rortin' and snortin' right at me.

For some reason around the swamps I fancy myself a svelte three footer. I'm twice as big but still could not believe the otter meant me. If bullheads were donuts I'd say otters are the cops of the swamp. Anyway this one swam right under me again, and snorted. I got the message and left the ice. I'm pretty sure I saw the otters just as they woke up. The fur was thick and dry. And then they went off to feed. There you have it. Now what do I do for thrills the rest of the day? It's almost better just seeing the scats and troughs and imagining what the otters do, rather than to actually see them, with a whole day before us, only to be snooted out of the pond.

The otter has holes in the ice by the rocks where it dens and also holes in the ice by the dam. Otters can dig, even in ice and snow, but in my experience they try to minimize the effort by trying to get the water to drain out of the pond where they have their den. They do that by digging through the mud, and, if necessary, gnawing through the sticks in order to put a hole in a beaver dam. Here is what my wife and I found after the otters finished with a one dam.

With all the world frozen not much water is coming into the pond, so as the water drains out the water level below the ice can fall quickly. This gives the otter plenty of air to breath as it fishes in the pond under the ice.

Plus the ice will often collapse in places, especially along the shore, creating crevices that can turn into holes.

However, during January and February, there is really no need for the otters to come out from under the ice a great deal. I find they might stay in one pond from three to five weeks, and, as far as I can tell, come up to scat on the snow maybe as infrequently as every three days, though I hate to use numbers. I think it's a mistake to impose our time on the winter life of animals.

Back to the photo above. You can see that the pond has reached a new level and that the ice refroze, deep enough to support our weight. What do the otters do then?

Fortunately, toward the end of winter the ice is thinned and weakened in many places from thawing during warm or sunny days, usually around tree trunks, and the otters seem to have no trouble figuring that out. Go to the next page to see that: page38