July 28, 2021
July 16, 2021
July 13, 2021
July 7, 2021
July 3, 2021
May 17, 2021
Catherine Boston
I took this photograph about 10 days ago of what I believe is Otter scat. I am not very adept at recognizing scat but others who are helped me to identify it. Particularly telling are the bits of crayfish throughout. This scat was still fresh when I took the picture, as the Red Spotted Purple butterfly has landed to "puddle" on it. Puddling, or mud-puddling, is a term to describe when a butterfly seeks out salts and other nutrients from moist matter (rotting plant material, wet soil or scat for example) and soaks it up through their proboscis. I love thinking that maybe I had just missed the otter. I have heard that they are found not far from ICNA but I have never seen one here.