I slept in a bit this morning….ah, such luxury. Consequently, I didn’t get paddling until 0715 hrs. Oh, well. It’s raining again today, making it difficult to get shots between rain cells.

Not too far from the boat I spotted this Yellowlegs, which I’ve never seen before, and probably would have missed if I hadn’t slept in.

And, I finally got a shot, just barely, of the Sandhill Crane, before it disappeared into the trees.

The Sandhills here are really shy.

I paddled along the south shore for awhile before spotting this Kingfisher.

I checked my watched and decided I’d better head back for the boat. I was pretty soaked. About that time, an otter…not the one I call Mr. Clean,but a smaller one…popped up right in front of me, chewing on a fish. He was as startled as I was. I scrambled to get my camera out, but he was too fast for me. I followed him for about 20 minutes hoping to get a shot, but each time he dove before I could get him. Then, he scrambled up the shore of a little island and was gone. Darn!

I continued on toward the boat. Just before I got there, I spotted Mr. Clean! He was doing a little fishing, and a little grooming — not the extensive scrubbing he gave himself yesterday, however, and not long enough for me to get any decent still shots. You will have to check out my video on YouTube when I get back to Seattle.