Tag Archives: river otter

Quickly Now

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Two river otters on the ice in Bower Slough at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

The year got off to a cold start and when I arrived at Ridgefield early in the morning on January 2nd, I was pleased to see that some of the waters of the refuge had frozen over. I had several opportunities during the day to take pictures that included the ice and had to work quickly for most of the them. It started with sunrise over the frozen Horse and Long Lakes, and ended late in the day with a raccoon testing the melting ice.

In the middle of the morning I was delighted to find these two otters that had just surfaced through a hole in the ice covering Bower Slough. I hoped to get pictures of them frolicking on the ice, it had started to melt as you can see by the thin layer of water in the back, but it was still plenty strong for them to run on. But I was only able to get this picture, the otter in the back is looking off to its left and soon what got its attention sent them both shrieking across the ice. I looked behind me to see what could possibly have spooked them with such alarm, a behavior I’ve not seen before, and got my answer as a large SUV came barreling past.

The Pursuit of Knowledge

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A river otter in Long Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Despite a lack of government funding, I do research as an amateur biologist, working in the fringe that more established scientists are afraid to pursue. My latest research has been into the aquatic bigfoot, the rarely seen cousin to the commonly seen arboreal bigfoot. You might know them as webfoots, water apes, or aqua monkeys, depending on your locale.

To date, I have discovered they are strong swimmers, love to eat fish, are playful, energetic, and travel in family or social groups. Also, they look a lot like river otters.

Nature Can Be Cruel

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A male belted kingfisher perches above Long Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Belted kingfishers are a bit unusual as the female has more color in her plumage than the male. The female has a rufous band below her breastband, while the male shown here has nothing but white below his blue breastband save for the blue patches down low at his sides.

After spending a long while watching a distant kingfisher work the waters of Long Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, it suddenly flew to a perch not far from the car. As I brought the camera up I noticed the waters below the perch churning and lo and behold several river otters were also fishing the lake. Kingfisher and otter, two animals I’ve long struggled to shoot.

What to do?

The otters were moving so quickly that it was difficult to get a picture, so I took a few shots of the kingfisher before returning to the otters. In the end and much to my surprise nature turned from cruel to kind and I got nice pictures of both.

Kind to me if not to the fish, attacked by feathered fisher above and furred fisher below.

A river otter chews on a fish in Long Lake

Four Circles

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A black-and-white picture of a river otter swimming in Rest Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Every time I see a black-and-white picture, even my own, I always wonder what it would have looked like in color. Even when I prefer the black-and-white version, such as this river otter swimming in Rest Lake. When I do look at the color version, I’m reminded why I converted it to B&W in the first place. One thing I like about the B&W version is that it emphasizes the four dark circles of the otter’s face, the two eyes and the two nostrils, flared wide as it breathes before diving under the surface to hunt for fish.

A river otter swims in Rest Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge