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River Otters At Fords Pond

9:17 PM · Nov 9, 2024

It was such a beautiful day yesterday so some of my family and I went to Fords Pond! We started walking around the left side of the pond and this nice lady saw me taking photos and told me that the River Otters were on the other side of the pond right then. I thanked her and walked back around the pond the way we had come. I went to the northeast corner of the pond where there were several logs at the pond's edge that the otters frequent while hunting. When I got there I didn't see any sign of the otters but a Mink was sitting on one of the logs. I began photographing the Mink and when it went underwater I seized my chance to sneak down to the water and position myself on one of the logs. The Mink came back up and I watched it for a minute before I started hearing splashing and crunching noises to my left. I looked over and saw four River Otters swimming towards me diving underwater and repeatedly coming up with fish. I sat still and quiet hoping the Otters would come over to where I was. After a minute they made it over and one of the Otters climbed onto the log I was sitting on with a fish in its mouth and began to eat it. It was an awe-inspiring moment! For 45 minutes while I sat there the Otters just swam around me catching fish and coming up onto the log to eat all the time seeming to be mildly curious of me but not scared. This was was of the most amazing wildlife encounters I have ever had! It was incredible watching the otters hunt as a team chasing a school of fish towards the bank, and then after catching a fish coming back up onto the log I was sitting on!