Yellowstone river otters

[Dylan8i]

So there's a small lake that houses a family group of river otters. I have visited it 4 times now and i finally saw them out. but boy was it worth the wait, as soon as we arrived, the 3 otters that were out ( there are 6ish i think, including 2 pups) swam up the small inlet channel and each caught a large trout, then ran over land, back to the lake, and proceeded to eat them on a log just off shore, with the perfect lighting (about 6 pm) from my vantage point. i think these are my best pics from the trip so far, here's the top ~1% of the photos taken.



swimming/crawling up the inlet channel to hunt (full frame)


running back over land with the catch (crop)


climbing on the log with said catch (crop)


looking around (crop)



and my favorite of the bunch, note the fish eggs on the log and front paw. there was a whole trail over the land where they carried them to. (crop)

[CaraRose]

Wow! Great shots!

Those lake trout?

[mjs1973]

I love otters! These are great Dylan.

[Dylan8i]

Thanks guys, they are the first i've ever seen! but i will be back to find them again.

its not lake trout, i believe it is a cut throat trout, but its kinda hard to see it is has the slash or not since its decapitated.... other wise is a rainbow.

[Eric D]

fantastic images...spot on!

[billy320]

Yep that is or was a nice cutthroat

[Singletracklovr]

NIcely done Dylan. I like the whole series it tells a great story. Thanks for sharing them.

[OldClicker]

Very nice! - Terry

[scott-devon]

Great shots!

[Loupey]

Cool! #2 and #3 are fantastic!

You did take your fly fishing gear out there right? If I were in your shoes I don't know which I'd be doing more (fish or photo)

[Dylan8i]

Thanks everyone.

No loupey, i don't really fish, my friend, however, pulled a 22 inch rainbow out of the same lake.

[paulnj]

What a great series of images!

[armando_m]

so great to catch the wildlife doing what they do to survive !

[Intrepid Berkeley Explorer]

Those pictures are fantastic.

Seems like river otters have little desire to be photographed, given how many trips you needed before they came out into the open and went fishing.

In Yellowstone and other places, including Alaska and Florida, I never received any tips about where river otters might be located.

However, in Grand Tetons, I was tipped off as to beavers, and that was fun. With video I could photograph swimming and walking techniques. So I submit my beaver still.

Definitely not in your otter league, but the flat beaver tail makes identification easy.

[GalloImages]

Nice images of the otters! They are fun to watch!