What’s going on out on the land?

River Otter on the Eramosa River
mammals, rivers, tracking byron murray mammals, rivers, tracking byron murray

River Otter on the Eramosa River

On Wednesday December 17th, 2025, while out exploring the river ice with my students we came to a bend of the Eramosa River where I knew the ice was thickest. While out on the ice, I came across some interesting tracks. Coyote tracks double registering? Fisher? River Otter?
Here I detail how I came to the conclusion of River Otters.

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Crayfish Gastroliths

Crayfish Gastroliths

I can’t remember when, but a couple of years ago, I think it was a co-op student at work, or maybe a new instructor, come over and ask me what some little thing was that they had found. It was small, flat yet round and slightly depressed on one side, like a danish or a donut whose hole didn’t make it all the way through. I examined it and took a couple of photos, and told them what I thought. “Probably a seed of some kind”, I said, but I never did figure out what fruit that seed came from. Turns out it wasn’t a seed after all but something a little bit stranger.

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