We’ve been shooting sports for the last month, and it’s starting to wear on us. You have to travel to the event, shoot all day and then go home and cull 6000-8000 images and edit the good ones. We love it, but I needed a break. I found just enough time last Wednesday to sneak down to Brick Pond for a little R&R. When I am out shooting wildlife everything else just melts into the background. It’s my drug of choice when I need some chill time.
There was open water pretty much all over the pond and of course the Geese were there. There were also quite a few Mallards who braved the weather to stick around. Until the pond ices over, I think they will stay.
But I was looking for my little furry buddies to see if they were going to stick around when it gets cold. Otters will sometimes take over a portion of a Beaver lodge for the winter and I was hoping they would do that at BP.
But as the time went by, I began to think that they had left the pond for the winter. I was looking at my watch to decide when to give it up for the day when …. there they were! The two of them were hunting as a pair, very efficient and methodical, working their way from west to east on the far side of the pond. The odds of them coming close enough for a decent picture are not good but eventually they worked close enough to me and surprisingly got out of the water for a break!
Click on the images to enlarge….
I think they knew they were being photographed!
They were only on that log for a few minutes, but I was burning electrons as fast as I could to get some decent poses before they slipped silently back into the water.
I got some good pictures with some nice poses, and I was glad for that. But something was missing, and that something was their mother. I had watched them for most of the summer, mom and the kids, but in late October I was able to watch mom as she crawled up on the beaver lodge. And I knew something wasn’t right. She just didn’t walk right and when I looked at the images I took of her, I could see why. She had a large red bulbous mass sticking out of her and I couldn’t tell what it was, but I knew it wasn’t right.
I took the pictures to someone who was much more knowledgeable about this than I am, and the news wasn’t good. Although they can’t say for sure, they believe that the Otter had a Prolapsed Uterus. Which means the Uterus is physically sticking out of her. Although they can sometimes reverse themselves and go back up into the body the prognosis is not good. Most likely she would either die of blood loss or infection. It’s been a month since I have seen her so I’m pretty sure she didn’t make it.
Like I said; sometimes it’s just not fair…..