Liam has loved otters since I’ve known him. He is in school hoping to become a marine veterinarian one day. I’m not sure if he hopes to specialize in a particular animal, but if so, it could easily be the river otter. I assumed, therefore, that he had seen the otter exhibit in Bend, Oregon. As soon as I found out he had not, I finagled our schedule to get us down there.
Bend is about 3 hours’ drive south of Portland, and a popular destination. It is far removed from the coastal influence, and thus has an entirely different climate. It’s dry, for one thing. That allows it to get hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and to have many of those blessed, blessed sunny skies that we miss in Portland. So yes, summer recreation and winter recreation are the main reasons people go to Bend.
It also happens to have a quality museum, called the High Desert Museum, that I have blogged about in the past. Please see my post for some better photos in places where I did not get quality photos here. I have been there a couple of times and looked forward to seeing the twins’ reaction to it.
I was happy to see that they liked it. I am still slowly trying to build relationships with them. They are very close with their mom, and with their dad, and I come in from the outside. I hope some day to be thought of as part of the group. I will like it when we have learned about each other enough to trust and appreciate each other, and to be easy together. We are not there yet, and nearly every visit includes at least one comment about how I am not like their family – usually it comes from Liam. He is the most cautious of the two, and the most careful before forgiving. I have the most critical personality of the entire family. But we are both polite and we are both trying.
I came in with assumptions, based on their ages, but these kids are different. For example, they are gentle and love animals. I just love Pedro’s boys for this kind of thing. Nineteen-year-olds could be rowdy and loud and obnoxious because that’s what teenagers can do…but these two are not.
I’ll cover more about the museum in a future post, but this one is all about the otters. Their names are Brook, Pitch, and Wesley. Wesley is the newest otter in the group, who was found on a nearby golf course as an 8 week old orphan in May 2022. Pitch was found on the Metolius River and brought to the museum in 2017 at 7 weeks old. The third is Brook, who is around 10 years old.
The museum cares for more than 130 animals, including birds, reptiles, a fox, a porcupine, fish, and these otters. The animals can’t be released because they are either too familiar with humans or don’t know how to hunt, or in some way don’t have the wild skills they need to survive. At the Museum, they are the spokesanimals for docents to educate the public.
The four of us met at the otter enclosure at the time the Museum announced was an “otter encounter.” This was a time when a museum docent came with a microphone and talked to us for about 20 minutes about river otters. She also brought some otter pelts that we were encouraged to hold, so that we could get a sense of how thick and dense and warm their fur is and why they are perfectly content on a cold and wet November day.
The docent told us that otters can’t tell the difference between her and the staff who comes to feed them. If they are napping when she begins her presentation, they will hear her voice and come out and get animated, hoping she is about to toss them some fish. I wondered if that’s why they did acrobatics for all of the people. Maybe they were hoping out of the twenty folks gathered, at least one of us would have thought to bring fish. None of us had.
The path in front of their enclosure also circles around to the back, where it drops down below ground. Visitors are allowed a glimpse through the glass at their swimming pool, and inside the entrance to their den. When they sleep, however, their preferred bed is in a room out of sight from us. It was difficult to capture them in the water because they swim very fast and erratically. One has to snap a lot of pictures and hope to get lucky.
Though the November day was very cold, we stayed and watched the otters for an hour. Finally, our fingers were freezing and it was time to head back inside the museum to get warm again. Before we left, I snapped two photos of some beaver sculptures near the otter enclosure. These were the same kind of exhibit as the cats I had photographed a couple months ago. Beavers are an appropriate choice, as they are Oregon’s state animal. One of our nicknames is “the Beaver State.”
Conscious Engagement 
A wonderful place Crystal. Otters are a favourite with me as well
It’s hard not to like them. They are strong and quick and fun.
Good to see all those otters, and the beaver art. Despite a sign on Bridge Street over Lymington River warning of otters crossing I have never seen one in my life, Maybe you’ll see one in spring
I’ll start wishing for otters now, and maybe that will help.
Three thoughts: One: I always enjoy river otters when I see them in the wild, Crystal, and it really isn’t often. Some of our best sightings have been in rivers along the Oregon Coast.
Two: I’ve been to the High Desert Museum a couple of times and agree with you that it is very well done.
And three: I’ve been there with integrating into a new family. It takes time, patience, love, and one hell of a good sense of humor. You may remember the story of the first time I took Peggy backpacking. Tasha had made Peggy a sweatshirt that said, “Keep your hands off the mama!”
Love your thoughts, Curt. I rarely see otters in the wild, but I have never seen them near the coast. That is pretty cool. One of my favourite similar sightings was a beaver on the Humboldt River outside of Winnemucca, Nevada. I was in a canoe and heard the SLAP of warning on the water, that let me know it was there. That was awesome. The museum is really good. I’m about to post my photos from the rest of that visit.
Integrating a family. It’s tough. I was a kid once, watching adults try to be in my family, and I learned a few “what not to do”‘s. You are right that humor helps so much. I remember often that they are young, and they have limited family experience, so they are learning through me which things might be done differently. When I was a kid, adults who tried to obviously to win my favor just annoyed me. So I pretend I don’t care that they think I’m weird. I laugh and own it. Our times together are much smoother these days, and we’ve learned things about each others’ personalities, so it doesn’t seem so noticeable anymore.