Otter Play

I was back at the otter den today with an extremely hopeful outlook.  It is wrong however to be so hopeful with camera trapping because these results are not always typical.

Otter looking right at you in the very left of the image.

This otter den has not disappointed. Otters showed up on several occasions since I checked this camera last.  One thing to keep in mind is that the den has a few entrances, some on water and some on land.  This camera only faces one of the many entrances.

What do the multiple entrances have to do with camera trapping?  Well, my camera only points at one of the entrances.  Only a fraction of the otter movement in and out of the den shows up when one camera points at one land entrance.

The camera was set on its video mode so I included some videos as well as still images that I extracted from the videos.

When the otters do show up though, they seem very photogenic.  They'll play and jump around in the camera's view.  A game of tag also took place during a few of the camera's recording moments.

River otter pops its head up in front of the camera.  It is located at the bottom-right of the image.

Otters are known for their play.  If you visit an aquarium or zoo that has these animals, you know first-hand that otters chase each other on a daily basis.

The last video shows some otter chase or a good game of tag.

First Otter Pictures!

I was back at one of my favorite camera trapping sites after a few snowy days.  I checked the two cameras in a meadow and results were as I expected.  Deer, raccoons, and foxes came by a few nights in a row but then all pictures stopped suddenly a few days ago.

I'm assuming that the cold played a big part in this cease-firing of the cameras.  The temperatures in the past week have been very cold for northern Virginia. 17 degrees a few nights ago, to be exact, was the coldest I've seen it here so far this year.  That's clearly cold enough to freeze batteries for a few nights.

The good news however, was at another camera where river otters finally appeared.

These pictures are stills that I captured from a video.  They were only in front of the camera for a few quick seconds, so I thought a few pictures might be better than posting the video.

It took some hard work and patience to do this set correctly and it really paid off.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep my camera there in the spring when this resident otter couple might have some young.

As for now, I moved the camera a bit higher so that rising water levels don't have the chance to interfere with it.  Hopefully in a few weeks, I'll have even more pictures of otters to share with a slightly different view at the same site.