A few days ago club member Lyn MacDonald was at the McArthur Island butterfly garden when she heard a commotion in the slough.
She witnessed a river otter attacking an adult Canada goose. It killed the goose and carried it away to eat!
Right now the geese are molting. It’s an annual occurrence where they drop all their feathers at once and will be flightless for 4-5 weeks. By September they’ll be flying again and have sturdy new feathers for fall migration. Unfortunately (for them) they are vulnerable to predation during this time.
What an amazing sighting by Lyn! River otters can be elusive – photographers spend a lot of time at Kamloops Lake and the Tranquille River trying to get a shot of them. Their presence in the slough is just one more reason why McArthur Park is such an incredible place to learn about nature.
