This is a first for me. I have never seen a wild River Otter in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex before. I was only able to get a fleeting glimpse of this individual, as he vanished as soon as spotted me. Here’s how it happened…
I had taken up a concealed position on the shore of Lemmon Lake in the Joppa Preserve area of the Great Trinity Forest. I was there to observe and photograph wading birds, and my attention was focused on a group of them several hundred yards/meters from my position.
Then, I noticed an unusual crunching sound coming from the water just in front of me. It was the River Otter swimming by just 15ft/5m from shore. Only his head showed above the surface of the water, and he was busy munching on something with a hard shell—possible a mussel or a crayfish.
I quickly brought my camera to bear, but the sound of the shutter alerted the otter and he vanished. I only managed these three shots. The photographs are not particularly good, but the observation was thrilling!
Fantastic! What a beautiful animal. I have seen otters in Vancouver, BC and Cape Cod, MA – but never in Dallas. I’m amazed you were able to capture it on camera – terrific.
Well, these guys are playful and charming little critters. I hope I get to see a lot more of him!
Otters are more common than one would think in waters of the GTF, all the more reason to protect the wetlands within the GTF. Dumb ass speeding drivers have run over two female otters on Bruton road (west lanes) in 2011 (February and April) as the otters were trying to clear the road getting hit in the northern most lane. Don’t know if they had babies. Therefore, it seemed they were trying to hit them.
The speeding automobile seems to be the biggest challenge faced by all urban wildlife. Let’s all slow down a bit and give theses guys a fighting chance.
Saw one riding on the white rock trail between Skillman and Lawther this morning ~5:00 am while biking to work. I had to google it to make sure they even lived around her. It was trotting down the trail right in front of me and finally realized I was there and headed off to the side. I probably got within 10 feet of it.
Cool. River Otters on North White Rock Creek. That’s pretty outstanding!