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Tuesday, April 27, 2021

River Otter at Labrador Valley (for real, this time!)

A little while ago, my trail cam began picking up new-to-me mammals moving along the mostly frozen creek in Labrador Valley. It took me a little while to realize that the first videos were of a mink. Mink are considered to be semi-aquatic, and they love to eat fish. The mink in our creek was diving below the ice, presumably fishing.

I really wanted to discover that river otters were in our creek. They were considered to be gone from Colorado. Then, the state reintroduced them in 1976, and they've been expanding their range ever since then. 

So, you can imagine my glee when my trail camera picked up a large mammal on the ice atop the creek. River otters weigh 10-30 lbs which is about ten times the weight of a mink. I checked with some experts, and sure enough, it was a river otter!

It's a very short video because the otter turned around just after the camera spotted him. Check it out!


17 comments:

  1. love them... they remind me somehow of the otters in the muppet movie O)

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  2. Hari OM
    ... it certainly looked as if it knew it was on candid camera!!! YAM xx

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  3. i thought it was an otter, i have seen 2 in the wild and 3 in a show at seaworld, never seen a mink. so now we know it is an otter and that is thrilling, although a mink is thrilling too

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  4. That last one definitely looked bigger than the first few. We hope you catch more glimpses of both.

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  5. Oh how fun. It's good to get a surprise now and again. This is a big surprise.

    Have a fabulous day. Scritches to the pups. ♥

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  6. Wow, KB! That sure looks like an otter to me! Very different face and tail. Way cool!!!!!!!!~!

    Chris from Boise

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  7. Too funny we almost had a selfie!!
    Hugs Cecilia

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  8. He said " I can see your trail cam" and sprinted away, what a startled look, love those eyes, and definitely a larger fellow.

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  9. How cool is that? 🦦 Can't wait to see that little fella once the snow is melted.

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  10. It looks like you caught that otter when he really didn't want to be caught:) We bet he has a family too.

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  11. So I guess Otters are shy and have no interest in being movie stars? Pretty cool creatures anyway!

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  13. I am a wildlife photographer and I think some good photos of the otter would be valued by the Colorado outdoor community. If you would be willing to give me some more info about the location I would love to go out and capture some photos. Your help would be greatly appreciated! 😊

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  14. The otter seemed to know it was being watched! :)

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