I Stopped Birding

 

For about twenty minutes of our morning hour at Schoharie Crossing today.

As I walked up to the aqueduct to look into the canal under it, something splashed behind me. I turned to look. A Belted Kingfisher, slammed into the water, then darted away toward the eastern bank in a flash of blue and silver.

But there was a huge wake left behind, rolling lines of moving water....what the heck...no five ounce swallow did that....even if it was carrying a coconut. Something big and brown eeled into the cattails on the other side of the small canal. 

River Otters! There were three of them, one of which appeared to be a pup. They never saw me even after I sneaked up onto the aqueduct ramp and wore the camera battery down taking photos. 

Snaky grace, all smooth and liquid, so close I could hear their jaws crunching the huge crayfish they were harvesting and the rustle of the cattails when they went in after frogs.

Efficient killing machines, they ate dozens while I watched. Alas, I blinked first. We had to come home to babysit. Many thanks to the kingfisher for pointing them out.