Is this a River Otter?

So, I'm out shooting birds at a local pond this morning, and all of a sudden I hear this splashing and see ripples in the pond. At first I thought it was a nutria (a local aquatic rodent), but it's obviously not. My next thought was the Loch Ness monster, but I'm nowhere near Loch Ness. A quick Google search leads me to believe that it's a River Otter. I didn't know that they live in this part of the country, but apparently they do. There were at least four of them, and I snagged a few quick shots (underexposed, as I was shooting Egrets at -2/3 stops EC).

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …scubadude1960/9​264223818/

Yes. Nice capture of the North American River Otter. You're at the bottom of his range.

https://en.wikipedia.o​rg …orth_American_r​iver_otter

Sounds like you caught a family outing. Very cool animals to watch.
Mike

Nice! They are so adorable. I saw some in Georgian Bay area once when i was a lad, and was totally enchanted.

Nice shot. This animal probably has more personality than many people.

Yes they are cute! But here in the PNW they are a pain in the butt around marinas!!

At least they're natives, unlike the Nutria.