On our recent trip to the North Carolina Outer Banks are, we were driving south along a road in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. This road was built by dredging up land from the swampy area on each side, so the road is a bit elevated and has water-filled ditches along both sides.

A River Otter swims along.

The back of a diving River Otter.

A diving River Otter’s tail.

We spotted a large swirl in the water of the ditch along the side of the road ahead. We sped up a bit and saw that it was a River Otter. It was swimming along slowly, and when it would dive, it would show its curved back and its long tail.

Three otters in a roadside ditch.

Actually, it turned out to be not one otter, but three otters. We were able to follow their course for more than a mile by driving slowly along the road as they swam along the roadside ditch.

An otter pokes it head out of the water for a good look.

Once in a while one of the otters would stick its head outside of the water to have a closer look at us. What a great treat to see these engaging animals so close up.

An otter swimming on its back.

An otter just starting to turn back over.

Swimming on their back seems to be a favorite otter trick.

An otter looks us over.

This otter has one more look at these strange creatures so persistently following it.