Thursday, March 18, 2010

River Otter emerging from the ice, American Woodcocks peenting

Last night around 7:30 I heard two American Woodcocks peenting in the field next to our house. One of them was sounding close by from a low lying area, still covered with snow. I didn't have any boots on nor a flashlight on me, so I didn't go any further, but I'll try again tonight, hope to see it and maybe even get a picture.

This morning looking from a window we watched a River Otter emerge from a hole in the ice on the pond behind our house, its backside still covered with ice...


taking a good look around


doing some exploring


and lounging on the edge for a few moments


before diving back in and vanishing

9 comments:

  1. Excellent, Hilke

    They are a lot of fun to watch but I've never seen them in the winter.

    Cheers, Harold

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  2. Very neat! I've always wanted to see a river otter (they apparently do occur in my area) but haven't managed to yet. I'm glad he made such a nice showing for you!

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  4. Wow Hilke,
    This is very cool to be able to see a river otter! Congrats on the encounter and on the pictures that are beautiful... It did not seem o be scared of you at all!

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  5. Thanks, Chris. The pictures were taken from a window about 150 ft away; so the animal never saw me.

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  6. Ohhh! How cool. I would love to see one of these critters in the wild. How lucky you are to have one in your backyard! He must have one warm coat to tolerate that icy water.

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  7. Wonderful experience watching the otter - a good sign of spring!

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  8. Haha, what a funny look it has in the last picture; he's like: "What's going on? Can't a River Otter have a morning walk?" Great pics!

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  9. Thank you all for stopping by. I wonder where this otter spent the winter. The pond is really small, too small for such a big animal. It's fed by an underground spring and the overflow trickles into a creek.

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