Sunday, November 25, 2007

Holiday company



We had visitors over the long Thanksgiving weekend.



They weren't very sociable though.



They kept to themselves a lot.



And were a bit stand-offish at times.



They had a little tussle right in front of us.



A handsome family, though.



It was hard to pick a favorite portrait.

-------

River otter, Lontra canadensis or Lutra canadensis.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are such cute pictures! I think they can be invited to my Thanksgiving, every thanksgiving!

robin andrea said...

Now that's the kind of holiday company I can put up with anytime. Great pics.

Jochen said...

W O W !!

We have European Otters around (Lutra lutra) but they are so secretive we hardly ever get to see them. Taking pictures??
Ha!
Impossible!

Great pics there, truly great!!

Anonymous said...

But like most holiday guests, I suppose you'll be glad to see them leave, correct? I suppose they will once they eat all of the fish in your lake.

lime said...

amazing shots you captured!

Chris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener) said...

That is so cool! I love otters, though I've never seen one in the wild. I get excited about the raccoons and opposums we get.

Annie in Austin said...

It must be wonderful to see otters in person, Rurality! I've only seen them at Aquariums and zoos, and once told my husband that if one had to be reincarnated as an animal, the otters looked like they were having the most fun.

Thanks for sharing!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Rurality said...

Thanks y'all. These otters were not nearly as skittish as the ones I surprised in the pond before (a few years ago). I couldn't believe it when they actually got out of the water when we were in the vicinity... even though they don't see very well, they definitely knew we were there by that time. And the new camera definitely got better pics than the old one would have.

They didn't ask for any turkey, but yes they were eating fish... of course they might as well if the drought continues. One good thing about the otters and the herons too -- we had no worries about stinky dead fish in the ponds that dried up!

Anonymous said...

What a delight! I didn't know if we still had wild river otters.

You mention a new camera - my current one is dying and a new one's in the picture. (Hey, did I just make a pun?) Advice? I'm thinking of moving up from 3.3 megapixel, 4x zoom to maybe 8 megapixel and a better zoom - if I find I can afford that.

Anonymous said...

Emmett and Ma Otter!

wineandroasts said...

CUTE! I haven't seen any otters here below the dam. I didn't even know our river HAD otters! I'll be on the lookout from now on. Thanks. :o)

anne said...

Holy cannoli, man! You are SO LUCKY!! I can't even imagine being able to see otters in real life!

Amazing photos, just wonderful. They have me grinning here at my desk. Just so, so cute.

Thank you!

Maktaaq said...

Aaaaaaaawwwwww!!! Those are cute!

Bobby said...

Great pics!

I saw a couple of river otters run across our parking lot one time. The stray cats around our place were like..."Okay, what the hell are those things?"

Unknown said...

Those cute little fellows can deplete a pond of fish in record time. Several in our area have been victims of the ravenous visitors.

Kerri Farley said...

These guys are one of my favorite animals! Love them!
Nice shots!

lisa said...

The one on the far left in the first image looks like my uncle...really! I was lucky enough to see a group up here, but just once. I was thrilled, having only seen them on TV. Great pics!

R.Powers said...

Otterly fantastic photos!
I'm sure they appreciated the low water as they systematically wiped out your catfish population.
So cute.
So efficient.

SantaBarbarian said...

what cuties!

Rurality said...

Hmm I could have sworn I put another comment in here answering Lin's question, but it seems to have disappeared... Sorry about that!

Lin, I got a Nikon D200 after we had an unexpectedly nice tax refund! (Hey, free money, right?! LOL.) I really love it.

The fish population had been pretty much wiped out already so it doesn't hurt to have them back now.

The plan is to eventually have fencing around the ponds, and put goats inside to mow the grass. But that is going to be a while down the road I think.