Snow can reveal otterly magical secrets

While catching up on the local weather that was calling for a sudden onslaught of white death to encompass our region, I began daydreaming of another long-ago year — specifically, Jan. 26, 1978. A barely predicted weather pattern — proceeded by a warmish and rainy day — lashed across Ohio, bringing life to a sudden standstill. Most businesses, factories, schools and simple transportation slid to a standstill, not returning to full capacity for five days. As a young man, it was an adventurous time of snowmobile wellness checks and food deliveries, snowplows and buried cars. By the time this column reaches you, we will know if this recent storm — almost exactly 44 years later — gives this latest generation something to remember. Personally, I'll be glad when it's also relegated to memory. As Mark Twain is credited with saying, "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." Twain may have said it but if he did, he would have been quoting his literary buddy Charles Dudley Warner. It still makes a good point and brings me to another thought: "If you can't beat them, join them." Once the snow settles and winds dissipate to safe levels, you might be surprised at what new secrets that crystalline blanket may reveal. The Division of Wildlife has used snow cover to survey wildlife for many years. One of the cooler jobs I've helped with was flying about in a helicopter as we surveyed the deer population, sometimes at tree-top level. Eagle nests were also easier to locate from an airborne platform, the large, dark structures standing out against the white backdrop. Snow gives us a glimpse of animals' movements, preferred feeding, resting and loafing areas, and their struggle to survive harsh conditions and predation. A casual walk across the countryside can reveal where a squirrel nervously searched for its buried treasures, a raccoon foraged along a stream's edge, a great blue heron's careful stride along open water, or a fox's trot during its search for a mouse or a vole. On one memorable winter walk, I came across the tracks of a hopping rabbit in a briar-filled woodlot. On a whim, I began following the prints, hoping to find its hide. The casual lope suddenly became a bolt with several zigs and zags of desperation — then, there was nothing. The tracks had stopped where only the sweeping arc of an angel's wings was left in the snow. But this was no angel. The story of a great horned owl's hunt to survive was artistically rendered, evidence which otherwise would have been invisible to me. Recently, Jeff Moore was exploring his favorite woodlot along the Blanchard River in Delaware Township. He came across an odd set of tracks that he hadn't seen before. As an experienced outdoorsman and wildlife watcher, he did have his suspicions. He began following the tracks and the evidence mounted. He soon placed a trail camera to try and capture a picture of the animal. It wasn't long before his efforts were rewarded. Jeff was able to document one of the first river otters to reinhabit the Blanchard River's riparian corridor. He not only was able to identify the tracks correctly, but also confirmed the sighting with photographs. Interestingly, it wasn't the only otter showing off in Hancock County this week. Kaleidoscope Farms Christmas tree farm near Mount Cory discovered an otter sprucing up for the camera along Ottawa Creek, which runs through the property. They captured a great video confirming their sighting as the otter mugged a little for the lens. The video was uploaded to their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/kaleidoscopefarm. This one can't be the same animal that Jeff Moore spotted, so it looks like we may be in store for a local revival of a once-common resident of northwestern Ohio watersheds. As you finish shoveling that miserable white stuff off the drives and walks, step back, close your eyes, and remember the thrill of snowmen, angels, sleds, snowballs, feeding the birds and exploring the woodlots for their secrets — and now, even an otter sliding his way across the landscape may surprise you. Maybe those things can be as much a part of your story as the drifting snow. "It is snow to be shoveled, to make driving even worse than usual, snow to be joked about and cursed at, but unless the child in you is entirely dead, it is snow, too, that can make the heart beat faster when it catches you by surprise that way, before your defenses are up. It is snow that can awaken memories of things more wonderful than anything you ever knew or dreamed." — Frederick Buechner Along the way River otters were once widespread throughout North America, except for the frozen Arctic and arid Southwest. Ohio's population was extirpated by the early 1900s due to uncontrolled harvest but, primarily, by stream quality degradation. In 1986, the Division of Wildlife began a seven-year project to reintroduce otters — a project primarily funded through the sale of Ohio hunting licenses. With help from experienced trappers, 123 Arkansas and Louisiana otters were captured unharmed using foothold traps and were released into Grand River, Killbuck Creek, Little Muskingum River and Stillwater Creek. Otters, which can weigh up to 33 pounds, are well suited for life in the water. They have long, tapered body covered by short, dense fur; large webbed feet; and a long, flattened, muscular tail that they use as a rudder to help with their hairpin turns while snatching fleeing fish. Otters prefer tributaries of major, unpolluted drainages where there's little disturbance. Log jams and submerged trees provide resting and feeding habitat. River otters often go unnoticed due to their nocturnal and crepuscular (active at dawn or dusk) habits, though some may be active during daylight hours if living in an undisturbed area. (That's until the occasional otter finds a farm pond and begins leaving fish heads lying about!) Otters mature in about two years and undergo something of an unusual breeding cycle. They have a delayed implantation of the fertilized egg and an arrested period of development and embryo growth that results in a gestation period of 290-380 days. After the female gives birth to two to four pups, the breeding cycle begins again, usually in early spring. Once one of Ohio's endangered species, the river otter is now thriving and expanding its range, thanks to the wise expenditure of sportsmen's license fees and the work of the Division of Wildlife. The division's survey procedure for otters centers around bridge structures, partially because of the convenience of easy duplication of the work from year to year, survey team to survey team. They're a less biased method of determining distribution, and observers continue to update and expand training to ensure proper identification, helping to distinguish between otter signs from other water-loving mammals such as raccoon, mink and muskrat. The first year for the survey in northwest Ohio was 2016. Fifteen bridge sites were selected within each of six watershed groups, for a total of 90 bridge locations. The survey targets the time between New Years' Day and mid-February and that year, only two of the sites were positive. Since then, otters have been detected in Putnam, Seneca and Wood counties. In 2019, the number had grown to 16, as otters continued to expand their range. In 2020, 421 bridge surveys were completed across the state and evidence was found at 103 sites with the state's highest populations found near the areas of the original releases: the Grand River and Little Muskingum watersheds. While most of Ohio's river otters can likely be attributed to those original transplants and their exploring offspring, the state's burgeoning otter range may be getting some help. All of our neighboring states, except Michigan, have also been working on river otter reintroduction projects. Some areas in southwest and northwest Ohio, areas farthest away from Division of Wildlife's restocking efforts, may be adding to this expansion. If so, we welcome them into the Buckeye fold. Step outside • This weekend's Tri-State Gun Collector's Show in Lima has been canceled due to weather. • Sunday: Trap shoot, 1 p.m., Mount Blanchard Gun Club, 21655 Township Road 186, Forest. • Thursday and Friday: Trap and skeet, 5 p.m., UCOA, 6943 Township Road 243. • March 26: Seneca County Pheasants Forever Fundraiser and Banquet, Meadowbrook Ballroom, Bascom. Proceeds benefit wildlife habitat projects. Visit www.SenecaCountyPheasantsForever.org or call 419-934-3891. Abrams is a retired wildlife officer supervisor for the state Division of Wildlife in Findlay. He can be reached at P.O. Box 413, Mount Blanchard, OH 45867-0413 or via email at jimsfieldnotes@aol.com