North American River Otters
River Otters are the clowns of fresh water streams. I never tire of watching their antics as they search for food. Late one winter I watched a family stop it's search for food in a mostly frozen north Idaho stream just to toboggan repeatedly down a snow covered slope. A few years ago I watched another family play "Up Periscope" through holes in the ice of a Minnesota River slough. And just recently I watched a blind in one eye youngster hunt salmon smolts in a drainage in downtown Anchorage, without a care at all that we were there for over an hour enjoying it's antics. River Otters know how to have fun!
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I photographed this Northern River Otter late in the day as it prepared to slip into it's burrow, along the Minnesota River, for the night. Note the small hole in the ice, which it was keeping open by trimming the ice back with it's teeth (it lost the battle with the cold that night as the opening froze solidly shut). Note also the burrow at the top of the photo, and just below the burrow the fish carcasses, and just below the fish the greenish Otter droppings. This burrow had served as sleeping quarters for this Northern River Otter, and two others, for a couple of days.
OtterRiver OtterNorth American River OtterNorthern OtterCommon OtterLontra CanadensisSloughMinnesota RiverFort Snelling State ParkMinneapolisMinnesotaNovemberIceScat
