2020 Long Island River Otter Project Update

BY: MIKE BOTTINI, SEATUCK ENVIRONMENTAL ASSOCIATION

Photo by Debora Engelhardt: Otter tracks on Plum Island (12/8/2019) showing a key feature that distinguishes them from raccoon...the "dropped" inner toe on the hind feet.

First:  Happy World Otter Day! Of the 13 species of otters in the world, 12 have declining populations due to illegal fur trade, loss of riparian habitat and water pollution, and the illegal and growing pet trade. One of the 13 is rebounding from some of the same issues, and that is the otter species we have here on Long Island: the amazing North American river otter (Lontra canadensis).

Over the course of the past year since the completion of the 2018 survey, several new otter latrine sites have been documented on Long Island. The known distribution of otters has now extended slightly west to include the Frost Creek watershed in Lattingtown on Nassau County’s north shore. I suspect otters may have established home ranges as far west as Kings Point, but public access for surveying suitable habitat in that area is difficult.

On the East End, otter latrines sites were documented on two tributaries of the Peconic River: Sawmill Creek and Terry Creek in the Town of Riverhead. Both of these creeks, as well as the unnamed creek located west of Pulaski Street in Riverhead that was inhabited by an otter killed in a motor vehicle collision on Route 58 in 2018, have large, vacant, unprotected tracts of land with extensive riparian habitat. In December 2019, a presentation was made to the Riverhead Town Environmental Advisory Committee about the importance of providing better protection of riparian habitat in future development plans for wildlife and flood protection. A follow-up meeting in January 2020 hosted by Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski discussed possible acquisition of one of the key parcels. There seems to be interest among members of the Town Environmental Advisory Committee, Town Planning Department and at least one member of the Town Board to incorporate better riparian zone protection measures in updates to the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. The Peconic Estuary Partnership and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have agreed to help in this effort.

In the South Fork’s Long Pond Greenbelt, otters have expanded their range south into Crooked Pond, with several latrines mapped along its shoreline. Anticipating them continuing south into Poxabogue County Park and TNC’s Sagg Swamp Preserve, camera traps were deployed in those locations this spring. No otters were photographed and no otter latrines have been found in those areas at this time.

In December 2019, Debora Engelhardt stationed on Plum Island with the Department of Homeland Security, photographed otter tracks on Pine Point at the southwest corner of the island (photo above). This is the first evidence of an otter on the island. The archipelago of islands stretching from Orient Point to the Rhode Island - Connecticut mainland that includes Plum has been suspected of being a conduit for the dispersing young of otter and beaver to reach the East End of Long Island. Both beaver and otter have been documented on Fishers Island at the northeast end of the chain, and beaver have been reported on Plum Island several times in recent years at the southwest end of the chain. Many thanks to Debora for sharing that exciting find!

Photo by Kevin Walsh: Otter "push-ups" created by otter surfacing under thin ice or slush at Honeysuckle Pond, 1/2020

Staff at Connetquot State Park reported several otter latrines and have photographed an otter at those sites during the summer of 2019. All photographs were of a single otter. This is the first evidence of an established home range in a south shore watershed, where much suitable habitat remains unoccupied at this time. In late January, at Honeysuckle Pond in Lakeland County Park which is part of the upper Connetquot River watershed, Kevin Walsh photographed an interesting type of otter sign called “push-ups.” These are created by otters surfacing while fishing in ponds that are just starting to form ice (photo above).

Among the interesting otter sightings submitted over the past year was a photograph by Coby Klein from Huntington Village of an otter in a small tributary upstream of the pond in Hecksher Town Park, south of Huntington Harbor. Amazing what small riparian areas otters will utilize!

This spring I received three different reports of an otter in Hempstead Lake State Park: one in the main lake and two in the north ponds. Actually, two of them reported that there was a seal in the north ponds, and one of those reports had a very poor photo attached of what appeared to be the silhouette of a seal’s head. It also resembled an otter’s head, and considering the number of freshwater ponds and dams to be navigated below Hempstead Lake, that would be the more likely mammal. I searched much of the area for an otter latrine with no luck, and the sightings remain questionable. Even though the Hempstead Lake watershed is quite a distance from the nearest established otter home ranges, I do have photos of a dead otter adjacent to the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) tracks in Island Park, due south of Hempstead Lake, photographed in May 2014. And that watershed has excellent estuarine and freshwater habitat and food resources, including a spring alewife run that may have attracted the otters to the entrance of Mill Creek. Despite a number of dams and busy roads in the watershed, it appears that otters could avoid crossing roads by using culverts, including the 750 feet-long culvert that passes under Sunrise Highway, Merrick Road and the LIRR combined!

Speaking of roads and motor vehicle collisions, this continues to be a concern for otters on Long Island, and will likely be a bigger problem as they colonize the more congested south shore. Over the past year (March 6, 2019 through March 11, 2020) we had four known roadkilled otters at the following sites:

- March 6, 2019   Mature male otter crossing Route 24 (Flanders) between the tide waters of Birch Creek and Birch Creek Pond.

- June 10, 2019  A three to four month old female otter pup crossing River Road adjacent to the Nissequogue River. Young otters spend their first two-and-a-half to three months in their natal den, and this was possibly the pup’s first trip outside to the river for a swim lesson with mom.

- February 2, 2020  A large (25 pound / 49” long) male crossing Route 51 (Southampton) between the Little River and either Cheney or Cedar Pond. Since that incident I photographed two otters at the latrine on the Little River closest to the roadkill site.

- March 11, 2020  Mature female crossing Cedar Point Road (East Hampton) between Alewife Pond and a small shrub wetland on the east side of the road. Unlike the other roads listed here, this is a very lightly traveled road in March. Fortunately the female did not have any fresh placental scars or embryos, as this is the time of year otters give birth.

On the positive side: TNC’s Jessica Price and Nicole Maher will include this issue in their ambitious project inventorying and assessing road culverts that could be redesigned and sized to enhance wildlife passage, reduce wildlife roadkills, and address future flooding concerns.

Many thanks to all of you who have contributed to the surveying and site monitoring effort over the past year, and those of you who have submitted important sighting details. Special thanks to Dr. Gavin Hitchener for sharing his detailed otter necropsy reports, and to NYS Department Environmental of Conservation biologist Leslie Lupo for supplying roadkill locations.

Mike Bottini
Wildlife Biologist, Seatuck Environmental Association
Member, IUCN Otter Specialist Group