Sea otter at the Oregon Coast

[Shawn & Paul Jacobsen]

Today while walking a beach just north of Oceanside, OR we saw a likely Sea Otter.   We were at least 100 yards away when we saw it run from behind a large rock, scamper down to the water and then swim along generally southward in the nearshore surf, past us, and then eventually around the headland and out of sight.  The running was diagnostic of a typical long-bodied otter-type animal.  No one else occupied the beach when we were there, and it is one of those beaches that is rather rugged with several offshore stacks.  Since it swam in our direction and past us, I assume that we were not observed or at least not disturbing the animal.

I know these are considered rare in Oregon, and from what I can glean online, probably a migrant from Washington.   Still, our first sighting in the wild, so pretty exciting.

Paul

Corvallis

[Lisa Millbank]

That's a very interesting sighting, and it's an extremely rare privilege to see a sea otter in Oregon!  The Elakha Alliance is a group trying to restore sea otters in Oregon, and they are asking people to report sightings to ODFW.

One possibility is that it could have been a river otter, because they're more common than sea otters on beaches. They're often seen in coastal streams, bays and estuaries, and won't hesitate to swim in the ocean, and they also travel fairly long distances away from fresh water along beaches, either on foot or by swimming in the ocean. 

As a kid I saw an otter killing a gull at the end of a jetty, and on a couple of other occasions saw otters running down the beach and into the surf.  At the time, I thought they were sea otters, but when I learned that sea otters were pretty much extirpated at the time, I realized they had been river otters.  But now that sea otters are starting to show up on the Oregon coast, it can be tough to distinguish the two species.  Sea otters occasionally come ashore to rest, but they are large (averaging 50-75 lb) and tend to move awkwardly on land.

Lisa Millbank

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[Ann Werner]

 In May I saw this river otter running north just south of Beverly Beach State Park. The ranger there said that river otters often catch a crab and take it up the creek st BB State Park, leaving shells up the creek. 

He also said they had two injured sea otters wash ashore in 2021, he thought they had been attacked by a  shark, they died. 

Ann Werner

Message flown by a lark, please excuse typos

On Oct 23, 2022, at 6:26 PM, Lisa Millbank <millba...@gmail.com> wrote:



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