You just never know. This young River Otter had made a scrape half way between the water and the top of the dyke and was enjoying a good dust bath when a group of birders found it. It was hard to miss. It was about 10 feet from the road along the top of the dyke at Viera Wetlands where, this week of the Space Coast Birding Festival, thousands of birders a day (not to mention the regular lighter traffic of birders, walkers, bikers, and joggers) will pass. And it was not at all alarmed at the attention. By the time I had taken, oh, maybe, a hundred exposures and several minutes of video and moved on, there were at least 15-20 other photographers surrounding the scrape at more or less respectful distances. Some were a lot closer to my bath than I would have tolerated a human, if I were an Otter…or so it seemed to me.

Of course, with the 1200mm reach of the Canon SX50HS, I had the luxury of framing from just about whatever distance I chose to keep.

Wonderful as this encounter was, and thankful as I am to have been there, the number of people involved made it feel a bit too zooish. It was not, of course, at all. Wild otter in the wild doing its thing…but I would much rather have encountered it when I was alone, up some rocky tributary stream, or even out on the backside of Viera. Picky. That’s me.

Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 500 and 640. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.