Last Sunday, while walking along the Brandywine (just outside of downtown Wilmington), my wife and I noticed something in the water making its way determinedly upriver. It was a North American river otter! There are a pair in the Wilmington Zoo, but we've never spotted one in the wild. It maneuvered around a couple of dozen Canadian geese and a small cluster of mallards and quickly swam out of our sight. The wind was very cold and the water must have been even colder, and I imagine it was heading for home. Pretty much what we did, too.
The otter appears often in Native American folklore. Here are some stories from the Lakota and Seminole Indians.