Giant River Otter

I didn't have a lot of mammal highlights during my recent Peru trip (it was very bird-heavy), but one of them was my first chance to see and photograph giant otters. This species is endangered, with families often confined to the odd oxbow lakes scattered throughout South America. They're extremely territorial, and in this case a family of 11 had their run of this particular lake. I hiked out twice to try and get some shots from a canoe.

Photo opportunities are fleeting. The otters will approach out of curiosity (and to protect their territory), but they're also pretty shy. Once they see what you are, they won't stick around.

On Day 2 I managed to get the shots I wanted, the somewhat cliched giant otter with its neck pattern exposed out of water. I thought the rest were throw-aways, many being backlit. However, I just saw this image, which appealed to me due to the nice colors reflected on the surface as well as the bokeh-enhanced detritus in the background.

Though I often like to go against the grain and present these shots horizontally when a nice background texture is prevalent, there were some large distracting white spots reflected on both sides of the subject... leading me to conform to a more standard vertical crop.

Canon 7D
Canon 500mm f/4 IS + 1.4x TC
ISO 400
1/400th
f/5.6
(on tripod in a canoe)

Max