Ice on the Lake, Otters at Play

Explanation: Once again it is time to celebrate the winter solstice (in the northern hemisphere), and happy holiday times for us all.

In this episode, enjoy this brief video of a family of North American river otters exploring the waters and ice of Upper Klamath Lake National Wildlife Refuge in southern Oregon.

Here is the mother with her two pups, lithely sliding in and out of the mostly-frozen lake, onto its ice cover and back again.

Not caught in this video, at one point the family seemed to have secured a coot as prey, but without warning a bald eagle swooped in and stole the prey from them. Such pirating of food is rather common with bald eagles, who steal from other eagles or other species. In ecology, food theft is referred to by the awkward but appropriate term "kleptoparasitism."

Regardless, whether in ice, snow, or other environments, we from Ecology Picture of the Week wish a happy holiday to all creatures swimming, walking, crawling, or flying, and winged, quadrupedal, or bipedal, everywhere.

EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week