Otter water trails

[An otter water trail]

The otters in the Sacramento Valley use all available waterways to make the rounds, including this man-made channel at Llano Seco.

There are several otter landings near the observation deck there, where they haul out, sniff around, and deposit scat.

Most of the year the scats are packed with crayfish shells, but lately they seem to be eating coots.

[Otters cross the road from the channel to forage in this body of water.]

This is the first time I have seen otter water trails through the algae and duck weed. We must have just missed them.

Check out Cliff Wheeler's blog to see the otters he frequently photographs up in Washington.

[More otter trails and a landing near the observation deck at Llano Seco]

Dinner in the tall grass

[The leftovers of a coot dinner, Llano Seco, Butte County]

This was NOT a case of "death in the tall grass". 

The remains were next to an access road along a dike next to a canal of flowing water.

I believe the coot was killed somewhere nearby. The predator plucked it and ate it here.

The predator is unknown.

It could have been a raccoon, possum, otter, or mink . . . or a coyote or bobcat.

I'm ruling out raptors, because I would expect them to drag the prey into the open or fly with it to a roost.

Llano Seco is one of the smaller components of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex, but it's the nearest (33 miles) to our house.