Shortly after crossing the lake at sunrise I noticed a flock of gulls take off in mid lake. They were quite some distance away but after they flushed I observed that something was still swimming and diving as it traveled towards the western shoreline.
Thinking that it may be my first loon sighting of the year I headed the boat in its direction. Moments later it surfaced and much to my surprise it was an otter!
Otters were nearly exterminated from Pennsylvania by the late 1800’s with only a small remnant population remaining in the Pocono Mountain region. Beginning in 1982 efforts to return otters to suitable habitat commenced and the effort is ongoing. This occasion is the very first time I have ever encountered an otter in the wild in Pennsylvania.
The encounter left me surprised and thankful; thankful that I had witnessed an extremely rare creature in the wild and doubly thankful that I had been able to capture a few memorable images of the moment.
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18 comments:
Now that is a special encounter.Thanks for sharing this moment with us.
Blessings,Ruth
awesome! Congrats on your first otter sighting, thats exciting. and you got pictures too, nice! They're great ones ! I love how otters are always so aware of what's going on around them, so they always look right at you, so sweet :)
That's awesome! What fun to have him swim towards you. Nice photo of him.
Salty: What a great shot of the otters, I've never seen them except in zoos. Love you new layout.
I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild.
Love that head just above the water. Congrats on the 'catch.'
Wow what an encounter! I bet you were surprised, I would have been... And yes you got pictures too, so what a wonderful day!! Congrats, the last shot is beautiful!
They are wonderful beasts.
Great shot, you must be very grateful for the chance to see them in the wild.
Guess he wanted to say hi and welcome to the neighborhood. Happy Easter. Valerie
Amazing pictures. Thank you for sharing. See you next week. Tam http://bloggingbradleys.blogspot.com/
Stopping by from CC. Very cool, I'd love to see on in the wild.
Love your shots♥
I would be so excited to see an otter in the wild. Wonderful! I LOVE the photo of the otter poking it's head up and looking at you.
Very cool and a great sighting of the otter.
What an exciting encounter for you. I love the shot of the otter peering at you.
How lucky are you! Congrats on this special encounter! I have yet to see one, as they are quite rare here too, so I totally get how you must have felt! Right place, right time! Awesome!
What a treat to see this little guy/gal in our home state. One can only hope they will return to hardy numbers.
I would have been over-joyed to see such a sight Coy... thank you for sharing these pictures.
WOW!!! That is so awesome! I love that second shot, and I can just imagine how you felt after that experience.
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