And an Otter Thing

Northern Shrike

We spent considerable time on the road yesterday, what with going over to see the lineup for tomorrow's auction at MacFadden's and all. We happened to spend a few minutes at Yankee Hill Lock, which were very enjoyable.

We walked the bike path a bit, finding nobody new, but lots of activity with a little mixed feeding flock. 

There were Cedar Waxwings, actively hawking insects that only they could see.

We found Hedwig on the Hudson again...or on the Mohawk, if you prefer

And, as we stood on the river bank, scanning for ducks and geese, the boss pointed at something about twenty feet off shore and exclaimed, "What is that!"

There in a boil of water, speeding downriver in the speeding current was a river otter.

Holy cow!

Exciting photo of a spot where an otter was just fractions of a second before

I tried for a photo, but he was only coming up for a quick breath and then diving again. This was the best I could do.

What a thrill though. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of wild otters I have seen. It was a fitting beginning to what turned out to be a delightful day.

School's out