Streaming

I walked down by the local creek the other afternoon. The recent rains have increased flow rates and the water in Cherry Creek is tea like from all the fallen leaves. Downstream about 75 feet I notice a disturbance in the water but don't see anything. Then I see something moving upstream on the surface of the water like a big fish. It gets a little closer then I realize it must be an otter swimming vigorously in my direction! It wasn't an otter but an American Mink (Mustela vision). It's in the weasel family and is almost as aquatic as an otter and a nocturnal hunter. They eat voles, frogs, crayfish, waterfowl and their eggs, mice, rabbits, snakes, and aquatic invertebrates.

It got to within about 6 feet of where I stood backlit with camera on the monopod, it looked up at me then swam a little circle around a rock then scurried out of the water on the opposite bank and darted under a fallen log! Wow, glad I had the long lens! Pinch me and I do believe in luck. Mendocino County, North California U.S.A.

Done