Inside and out

Even though I had quite a few visitors at my bird feeder again this morning, with all of the usual suspects putting in an appearance at one point or another, this is, believe it or not, the only bird photo I'm posting today:



You see, when I got to work I remembered that my coworker Sarah was bringing in Junior, her young Golden Retriever, to have a play date with Kim's dog Esa. I thought it would make for a fun change of pace, so I switched over to my wide-angle lens and started clicking away as soon as Junior arrived at the office.

Loved Esa's expression in this one:



Looking a bit uncertain as to exactly how they ended up in this position:



A reversal of fortune:



And a couple of "Aww... aren't they adorable?" pics for good measure:





So at this point I figured I was good to go as far as today's post was concerned. And then, just as the dogs were settling down, Yoshi spotted something moving across the parking lot, making its way from our property to Orvis next door: an otter. Naturally, we all rushed over to look out the back door window, and sure enough, there it was. And there I was, using the lens with a focal length that ends where my telephoto lens begins. So I didn't even bother to try getting a photo of it at that point.

What I did do, though, is go back to my desk, switch lenses, and walk over to Orvis. I honestly wasn't holding out much hope that I'd see the otter again, but I figured if it was lingering anywhere nearby I'd most likely spot it around one of the two adjoining ponds next to the store. So that's where I headed. Once I got there, I stood by a small bridge and started scanning the water's edge. Nothing. I was just about to give up and head back to work when I heard the unmistakable sound of dry leaves being moved around. I looked directly to my left, and there it was, rolling around in the dirt underneath a bush on the other side of the bridge:



Love how pink its footpads are:



Once it had enough of that activity, the otter went down towards the large rocks at the water's edge and quickly dove in, swimming under the end of the bridge and out of my sight. I waited, and before too long it climbed up out to take a look around:



Then it started to do a little exploring: it climbed up the hill, made its way along the opposite side of the bridge, clambered over and around the various rocks and such, came back over towards the bridge, saw me standing about a yard away, backed off, and returned to the other end of the bridge. I stood there clicking away like mad, but my grand total of in-focus pictures was... zero. The otter was just moving too quickly, and because it was fairly overcast I couldn't crank the shutter speed up to compensate.

Happily, the otter's curiosity finally got the better of it, as it started making its way along the edge of the bridge and straight toward where I was standing":



It was only a foot or two away from me when it finally decided to head back across the bridge:



Next up for the otter: breakfast. And since the fish in the Orvis ponds are about the same size as the otter itself, it decided to head over to the reeds at the far end of the pond to see what it could scrounge up:









Nothing like a fresh crayfish to start your day out right:



A closer look at the otter with its meal:



Most of my blurry shots were of the "there's one for the recycling bin" variety, looking like they were taken either during an earthquake or while I was standing on a paint mixer. But I thought this one was worth sharing, as to my eye it really evokes a sense of the fluidity of the otter's movements:



And for the final shot we've actually come full circle, as the otter chose the same bush it was rolling around beneath earlier as the perfect spot for a bit of fine dining. If you look closely, you can even see the tip of its tongue peeking out: