When I spotted a dark shape in the distance yesterday morning at the edge of a trail alongside the water at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I had no idea what it was—then it started to move. These images suggest to me that it was a North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis), the first time I have seen one at this location and the first time that I have seen one in the wild on land rather than in the water.
As my mind was busy processing what my eyes were seeing, the otter scurried into the brush and then into the water, where it was joined by a second otter. When I watched the otters swimming away, I was facing almost directly into the sun, so all I was able to capture was this “artsy” silhouette of one of them. I really like the way that the backlighting shows off the otter’s whiskers as it turned its head around and watched as the other otter caught up.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
love that last one!
Thanks for the feedback, Jodi. I never know how folks will react to an image like the last one. I initially tried to pull detail out of the shadows, with only minimal success. The more I worked on the image, though, the more I realized that I liked the dark silhouette and the effect of the light on the wet whiskers. The ultimate factor for me in posting an image is whether I like it, so I decided to include it, even though it doesn’t show many of the details of the otter.
Excellent Mike always a joy to see in the wild, nice images.
Thanks. I remember getting some nice pictures in the past of otters at the National Zoo in Washington DC, but nothing really matches seeing wild creatures in the wild.
Great pictures, Mike.
Thanks, Dan.
You otter thank that critter for giving you such great views.
Otterly amazing! 🙂
Nice! They are fun to photograph! Great you had an opportunity to photograph them. Years ago in Florida at Lake Woodruff NWR, they would be quite active early in the morning and late in the evening.
Nice shots Mike. Otters are so smart and hard to get a good photo of around here.
Hi, I’m a writer working on a story about otters in the Potomac region for a local environmental nonprofit. I would love to get a quote about your experience seeing an otter at the refuge. If possible, it would be great to have permission to use one of your photos too (with credit). Either way, I’d love to connect!
Thank you for considering this,
Julia Travers
traversjul(at)gmail.com
jtravers.journoportfolio (dot) com