As we were paddling up the river back into French, my kid saw what she described as an otter in my mind. It stuck it's head out and stared at her for a bit.

A few bends later we came across a stopped canoe. They said they were watching some otters play, pointing to a beaver lodge and calling it an otter house.

One bend later I said hey kiddo, fwiw, that was a beaver lodge and I don't think otters build houses.

Do otters build houses?

Pretty sure I read that they will take over a beaver lodge.
On Kawnippi I paddled by one of those rock overhangs low to the water, the ones that go blurp blurp with the waves. I was curious how all the sticks n'at got caught up in it. On the next pass I saw an otter swim to the entrance. I paddled over and could hear lots of activity inside. The sticks weren't skinned so I assumed the otters must have at least made an attempt to secure the entrance.

db wrote on Aug 27^th, 2015 at 6:49am:

Do otters build houses?

From NatGeo: "The playful North American river otter is equally at home in the water and on land. It makes its home in a burrow near the water's edge, and can thrive in river, lake, swamp, or estuary ecosystems. Otter abodes feature numerous tunnels—one of which usually allows them to come and go from the water."

The only question that remains is: how much wood could a woodchuck chuck?!

A picture is worth 1000 words.

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Quit chucking my wood!.

A few winters ago I was startled by a screaming 10 year old.  We were in the fish house and an otter had poked his head out of my kids ice hole, got up and hopped to the minnow bucket, stuck his head in, grabbed a big shiner and dove back down the hole.  We moved the house that night.

Amazing! Now that is one resourceful mustelid! Had a mink look in my tent, last trip, but it doesn't compare to that minnow-robbing otter!

Otter house?
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