04/15/2026
March seemed to forget that it brings warm days and lots of sunshine, both notably absent in our area this year. However, animal hormones are often activated by the photoperiod rather than temperature so nesting and mating were still on schedule for many of our wild neighbours. In particular, female River Otters start attracting the attention of males as that month fades into April.
About a week ago I visited Bell Park, one of my favourite Arnprior birding areas as it is situated where the Madawaska River flows into the Ottawa River. After seeing little activity on the Ottawa River side, I moved to the Madawaska side of the point and after several minutes of scanning was surprised to see two River Otters swimming toward me. I stood still as they swam and dove past me. Anticipating that they might move around the point and follow the Ottawa River shoreline I ran to that side and hid by an overturned tree root. After a few minutes I was delighted to see the pair swimming toward me. They dove repeatedly, coming up with crayfish and perch. After a dive, one crawled up onto the snow-covered shore behind me. After rolling around in the snow several times and taking a short rest, it walked behind some bushes where it appeared to leave a scent mark. It then slid down the bank, a movement called tobogganing, into the cold water and like its companion had already done, it vanished.
I then drove to the Mississippi River (our local river, not the one in the USA!) to look for waterfowl. After I spotted two otters swimming toward the bridge I ran and hid against that side of the bridge. The pair swam to shore, with the lead one running quickly and the other in hot pursuit of it. As otters mate at this time of year, I suspected they were not playing tag. The chase was fast and furious with the otters repeatedly vanishing into the cattails only to reappear some distance away. At times they left the river's cattail fringe and ran up the grassy slope only to return to the cattails again. For fifteen minutes I watched, losing sight of them only to have them reappear at another location. Finally, the lead one stopped, allowing the other to catch up. The pair seemed to snuggle, with one even appearing to hug the other. As otters usually mate in the water, I suspected that the female was not quite ready for that activity yet. After a brief break from running, they resumed the chase, vanishing into the cattails one final time.
Although the young are born about nine months after otters mate, the gestation period is actually only a month long. Once the eggs are fertilized, they enter suspended animation and do not implant on the uterus wall until eight months later. Delayed implantation is a feature exhibited by other carnivores, and allows females to mate soon after the young are born and nurse those young without nourishing young developing inside her.
Isn't Nature remarkable!
