Otters?
 

I met someone at the town docks parking area today and noticed a large black animal going in and out of the water in front of Lago's docks.
Otter maybe. The person I met stayed to watch and called to say there were two of them, they had big heads and were jet black.

While driving to work today I was on top of the Black Cat Island bridge and watched a fox walk across the ice to the island. When I got to the job I looked out and saw the tracks led to the house next to where I was working.
Great day for seeing wildlife.

River Otter?
 

Did it look like this guy?

Attachment 7682 File photo, not mine

According to F&G:

The biggest of New Hampshire's weasels is the RIVER OTTER, at 25 to 40 inches long. These stately creatures of the water are dark chocolate brown in color. Otters may roam as much as nine square miles. As with mink, fish and crayfish make up the majority of their diet. Like other weasels, otters are rarely seen, despite their abundance. The otter sign that I frequently see is where they slide along the snow in the winter

It was really hard to tell Steve. I was at the parking lot and the critter was to far off to see clearly. I'm thinking it must have been.

Otters are pretty large, more likely a mink, we have a family of them that live near us, there is always a large pile of mussel shells in the water at the end of our dock in the spring.

We always have a large pile of clam shells by our dock in the spring, too, but thought it might be from the mink. Do you think it is from the otter? We do have otter. I saw one last year right up on the land, quite a ways away from the house. At first I thought it was a dog. He was cute!

Mink in Lake Shore Park.
 

We have had Mink in the Marina at LSP. Very elusive little buggers, I've tried to get pictures of them, but they like to stay out of sight by retreating under the docks.

Pretty sure the pile of shells is from minks, we have several of them that run along our shoreline all year. Sometimes when we are sitting on the shore line they get pretty close, within 5 to 10 feet and stare at us a little while. I tell the kids that it is debating whether it can eat us or not.

Ok, sorry I misunderstood. We think they are from the minks too but thought you were saying they were from the otters. :)

I would it is likely a mink too. I have several that make their home in my jetty.

Am I wrong? I thought mink's fur turned white in the Winter. My wife saw what she thought was a mink in the back yard a couple days ago. It was all white.

googled "do mink turn white in the winter"
 

The resounding answer is no...weasels do, mink do not. they may have a little white under their chin, and may have a blaze of while on their brisket, or chest.

Weasel or Ermin. not sure of the spelling but they look similar. We see a lot of the while we are snowmobiling.

When they are reddish brown in the summer they are weasels and when they turn white with black tip on tail in he winter when they are known as ermine.

Wow thanks for that info, I never knew they were one in the same.

Thanks upthesaukee. For most of my 82 years, I thought I was seeing mink, but all the time they were Winter weasels.

Well BR a few years ago we told a woods savvy friend that we saw a white weasel with a black tip on its tail on our low deck in the winter. He explained that in the winter it was known as an ermine. Prior to that I also thought that they were two different critters.
That friend also has live trapped bobcat for a UNH/F&G study and runs his dogs to tree, but not shoot, bear. Says it gives him and his dogs good exercise. Anyway we send all of our wildlife questions his way.

Weasels and minks are very small. Otter is what you saw. Minks are seen in and around the water more than a weasel. I see minks frequently in the early am when I fish. Last weekend one ran right by me on the ice. When I went to check on its tracks, because we got an inch of snow the night before, there were other tracks where a lg tail dragged and every 20 feet or so iits whole body would slide along. For sure an otter. And they are much bigger, over 30 inches long.

Yes, the otter are a lot bigger. We see the mink often and one year even saw the babies.

I was sitting at the Wolfeboro docks last evening and saw the animal, which at first glance I thought was a beaver. I see lots of beavers as I live near the Merrymeeting river, than soon realized it was not a beaver but an otter and a large one at that. It followed the shoreline under the docks and eventually headed around the corner and down the river to back bay.
He is soon to be crowded out by dozens of fishermen tomorrow.

Mink-Link...Video
 

1) 'Could be the same otter as seen in recent years in Back Bay and near the Smith River bridge. 'Good to see they're hanging around that general area.

2) A mink family was videotaped on the shore of Winter Harbor—a place I never see otters. (Beaver, yes).

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