Just for interest as quality is pooh.
Down at a local lake I quite often see an otter or two and I have been trying for ages to get some decent images (still trying). A week ago I spotted two heading along the opposite shoreline (unaccesible unfortunately) and they put on a right old show. I am assuming they were play fighting and not for real but they were certainly having a right old go, leaping high out of the water and diving on top of each other. I did manage a series of images but with the light levels low and the great distance they are nothing more than snaps to remind me of a great viewing.
500mm
1/350 @f5.6 iso 800 Very big crop.
Posted by Matt Cole on November 22, 2011 at 1:43 AM
An interesting shot Robert. It must have quite something to see this.
Matt
Posted by Neil Burton on November 22, 2011 at 2:58 AM
Must have been amazing to see!
Posted by Bob Johnson on November 22, 2011 at 3:48 AM
Crikey not to bad for a snap Robert
Bob
Posted by David Sewell on November 22, 2011 at 9:00 AM
Sometimes the important thing is that you see great behaviour rather than manage a photo of it. It must have been a great experience.
David
Posted by Mike Smith on November 22, 2011 at 9:07 AM
An experience to treasure.
Judging by the raw nasal pattern on the RH otter, these are very active indpendant feeders, ie turning stones with the noses looking for bullheads etc
I recall someone contacting me after the Welsh trip experience regards using whisker pattern photography as a means for id but for me this snout scarring on freshwater/river otters looks much promising for individual id purposes. - perhaps one to experiment with?
Posted by Nick Mckeown on November 22, 2011 at 1:01 PM
Interesting behaviour shot. Could be a couple of males sparring, brothers even, practising for the real thing. Probably need to stake out a place that looks well used to get those closer shots. Luck also plays a large part! As David said the important thing was being fortunate to witness the action.
Nick
Posted by Guy Rogers on November 23, 2011 at 2:57 PM
Hello Robert.
It must be nice to have these localy and catch them like this, hope you get the chance to photograph them much closer sometime.
I totally agree about the experience often being of more importance to the picture. As I mentioned, I have seen these on a number of occasions, usually well out of range and normally just swimming in their usual otter manner ie just a head out of the water. That of course does not make for an interesting picture but even just that glimpse is always enough to send me home happy.
Thanks for the comments.
Posted by Ian Mason on November 24, 2011 at 3:57 PM
I can imagine how your felt - I stumbled across similar activity only the once, got a record shot, and it is one of my favourite shots.
Discussion
9 repliesDown at a local lake I quite often see an otter or two and I have been trying for ages to get some decent images (still trying). A week ago I spotted two heading along the opposite shoreline (unaccesible unfortunately) and they put on a right old show. I am assuming they were play fighting and not for real but they were certainly having a right old go, leaping high out of the water and diving on top of each other. I did manage a series of images but with the light levels low and the great distance they are nothing more than snaps to remind me of a great viewing.
500mm
1/350 @f5.6 iso 800 Very big crop.
Matt
Bob
David
Judging by the raw nasal pattern on the RH otter, these are very active indpendant feeders, ie turning stones with the noses looking for bullheads etc
I recall someone contacting me after the Welsh trip experience regards using whisker pattern photography as a means for id but for me this snout scarring on freshwater/river otters looks much promising for individual id purposes. - perhaps one to experiment with?
Nick
It must be nice to have these localy and catch them like this, hope you get the chance to photograph them much closer sometime.
Thanks for the comments.