Well, folks, this is it, the last batch of wildlife photos I have. As for more, there is nada, zip, zilch, and bupkes in the queue. It is very sad, isn’t it.
But today we have photos of otters from reader Christopher Moss. Christopher’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. The first batch was sent on December 29:
Just after the sun went down this evening I spotted a pair of otters on the other side of the pond. I assume they are Lontra canadensis, the North American river otter. They are about 80m away, and the photos were taken through a window. But when you’re desperate for readers’ wildlife photos, maybe they will do. The otters played in a small area of open water for a while and then I lost sight of them in the gloom. This is the third or fourth time I have seen otters in our pond (which is in northwest Nova Scotia, near the border with New Brunswick).
Eventually one otter came back up, and was then joined by a second:
One of the otters came back for a trout:
We’re arguing over whether there are three or four pups. I do have a still of five otters at once:
Here’s a video showing all five at once:
A few minutes later my son called out that they were all standing up looking at something, and – guess what? – this fellow was a few feet from them:
Love otters! Thanks!
I also love otters. Maybe there will be more photos of them? Let’s hope.
When the otters aren’t here, there is a mink that darts out and fishes. He is harder to photograph as he moves very quickly. I’ll save up the pictures and send them on when there are sufficient (yes, Jerry’s new submission rules were written with me in mind!)
Example https://flic.kr/p/2rRicih
That red fox looks VERY curious. It would have to get pretty lucky, I think, to catch one of those otters. Life for a fox is pretty hard.
There are lots of those in Toronto.
Beautiful! I once encountered a river otter on a trail next to the lake near where we lived. The otter was on the trail. I was on the trail. He held his ground for a moment and then slinked into the water. After I walked past, he turned around and swam toward me in the water. I thought he might even try to attack. He didn’t. Maybe he was just curious. But he was big and he has teeth!
I love watching otters. They are very smart and love to play. I witnessed a group of sea otters totally trash a moored sailing yacht. They boarded it after watching the people leave. Within moments we could hear all sorts of crashing noises coming from the cabin. It was hilarious and, I’ve got to admit, I had a bit of sangfroid over the mess in a rich person’s toy. Thanks for the photos and they’re great even through a window!
What a fun post. They remind me of clowns. Thanks for a cheerful post.
Loverly! Thanks, Christopher.
Wow!! Thank you for sharing those.
Otterly delightful!
Well, somebody had to say it.
The one in the 6th photo almost looks like ‘Why are you following me?’