Hello everyone. This is my first post here. I swear we just saw a small otter in our backyard. Which may not sound strange, except we are in the NE suburbs of Atlanta. We do have running water out back – a small drainage ditch that plays host to creatures like snapping turtles (a large lady left some eggs in our yard last summer but they did not hatch), rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks… There is not enough water to sustain fish or anything like that. I was shocked last summer when the turtle crawled into our yard, but was more shocked just now when we looked out the window.
This critter came out of the bushes, looked around, and went back in. He was about the size of a squirrel, but a dark brown/russet color, with an elongated body and smaller tail than the Eastern Grays we have in abundance. When we went back into the hedge, he pretty nimbly climbed over/onto some brush and then disappeared.
I’d love to know if anyone has suggestions on what we have back there (even if it’s an aberrant squirrel!). I’m going to be keeping a close watch out there now.