Here’s a bit of a rarity: a North American river otter in repose. Usually, these otters are furry perpetual motion machines.
When he sensed me sneaking up on him, this guy turned my way, flared his mustache in distain – click! – and disappeared into the pond with a long, lithe “slurp.” I sat down and waited for half an hour and he never popped up. (There are burrows with underwater entrances all around the pond; he probably went back to sleep in one of them.)
I’m assuming that this otter is a male because it's about the end of mating season for his kind and I’d like to believe that he’s tuckered out from wandering from pond to pond and mating uproariously with all the females he could find. (Hope that’s not too much psychological projection on my part.)
(Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 8, 2025.)