Crab Wrap a la Elkhorn
This first photo was taken by Ted Belleza. Here's how he tells it...
"One late afternoon at Jetty Road, I waited for an otter or two to show up for their evening meal. This young otter came along, disappeared underwater and reappeared with a crab wrapped ingreens. A glass of Viognier rounds out the meal. "
Equipment used: Canon 20D, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS, ISO 400, 1/800sec, f/5.0,
Hoya UV filter
Ted is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and descibes himself as "a wildlife photographer wannabe."
Four Buddies
This second photo of four sea otters was taken by Tage Bjorklund in June of this year. Here's the story behind this photo:
"It was a misty morning, a very still day. I arrived at Moss Landing State Park parking lot and noticed a float of about fifty sea otters well within reach of my 20D and my newly purchased 100-400 IS lens. To get this shot I added the Canon 1.4x extender for a total focal length of 560mm and used manual focusing.
I was moving slowly, trying not to disturb the sea otters, but these four guys noticed me.
As I was taking pictures, some younger sea otters were playing and splashing in the water and woke everyone up. As the float of otters settled down again I heard the sea otters sing! Perhaps this was their way of calming down and getting back to sleep. I will never forget that."
Equipment used: Canon 20D, EF 100-400 L IS and EF 1.4x II extension
Tage is an amateur photographer with a day job in Silicon Valley. He is into landscape and wildlife photography, and working on his own website http://thisbeautifulearth.com
This last photo of a thornback ray on the belly of a sea otter was taken by Reinhard Worbs of Munich, Germany while visiting the Elkhorn Slough Reserve earlier this year. Here is his account of how this event occured:
"When we first saw it on our round trip watching it from the small bridge, the otter was sleeping on the surface and we hiked further on. On our way back via the same trail (again on the small bridge), the otter saw us and dived. When it appeared again we were more than astonished that the otter carried on its belly a ray and in addition was eating (good to see and to hear) a crab. As soon as the fish was going to glide from the belly, the otter dived again to bring it back, then turning it 180 degrees (its white side up) putting it again on its belly (unfortunately I didn’t take a photo at this very moment). Uschi and I really had the impression as if the otter wanted to show its very specific skills and playing capabilities - unbelievable for us."
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