Surprise Animal Sighting

Seth noticed the movement on the opposite bank and we weren't sure what we were seeing at first.  It was too big for a muskrat and we weren't in beaver country, it was too small for a bear and after watching it apparently eating something and seeing it as best we could through our camera viewfinders we decided it was a river otter.  Being about a mile from the river and all the streams dry we didn't expect to see an otter, so maybe he has been summering over.  After watching it finish its meal and swim off across the pond we hiked around the pond to look for signs of what it was eating.  We found the remains of a catfish...it didn't leave much.  After getting home and zooming in on our photos we could clearly see it was a large otter.

Larry was showing Seth the catfish whisker

The mouth and an eye were mostly all that was left.

There were some thistles still in bloom.

Yesterday we had more animal excitement, the biggest buck we have seen to date here showed up.  He didn't have the most points on his antlers, but he was the largest and had the thickest neck and body of any male through here yet.  He was very regal.  He grazed on our pile of cuttings with the doe and fawns and then just laid down with not a care in the world that we were out there watching them.  Seth had been shuffling closer and closer getting pictures with an old camera.