Wildlife photographer Terry Chettle was taking pictures of a green heron at the Grimsby Wetlands in early August, when something surprised both him and the bird.<\/p>\n
"All of a sudden this river otter started taunting the heron a bit," the Beamsville, Ont., resident said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chettle told CBC Hamilton he was surprised to see an otter, because they're uncommon in the area. When it moved to a log and started preening, he took its picture.<\/p>\n
"It put on a show for me," Chettle said Tuesday. "Kind of gave me the tongue out and the wave."<\/p>\n
Wayward duck in Niagara draws mad rush of birders looking to photograph the 'mega-rarity'<\/p>\n
That same day, Bruce and Laurie Mackenzie were out for a walk in the wetland. They met Chettle, who pointed out the otter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bruce Mackenzie agreed it was a rare find, saying as far as he knows, that Aug. 3 sighting was the first near the wetlands in recent memory.\u00a0He said he doesn't know of anyone seeing the otter since that weekend.<\/p>\n
The area \u2014 which used to be where Niagara Region stored sewage \u2014 is managed by the Hamilton Naturalists' Club and covers about 12 hectares on Lake Ontario's South Shore. Mackenzie works with the naturalists club, serving as project manager for the wetlands \u2014 now a popular hiking and bird-watching spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The otter sighting "speaks well of habitat restoration and water quality," he told CBC Hamilton, noting rare species have been spotted in the wetlands before, including least bitterns \u2014 small herons threatened in Ontario.<\/p>\n
"We're quite excited about different species showing up," Mackenzie said. "They indicate that kind of life can be sustained because of the rewilding of the Golden Horseshoe."\u00a0<\/p>\n
Otters are a conservation authority success story, Laura Timms, a program manager in natural heritage management at Credit Valley Conservation, told CBC Hamilton.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
That conservation authority oversees the Credit River watershed, which includes much of Mississauga and Peel Region. In 2025, it published an article about river otters making a comeback in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The authority doesn't track specific numbers, but Timms said there's a clear upward trend. A decade ago, she said her team would have assumed reports of otters that didn't come with photos were actually from people mistaking the slinky brown mammals for minks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, she said, documented sightings are more frequent, including at the Rattray Marsh and Jim Tovey Lakeview conservation areas this year, where some of the otters gave birth to pups.<\/p>\n
CBC Hamilton asked the Hamilton and Niagara conservation authorities about their observations of otter populations. A spokesperson for the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority said it doesn't monitor wildlife. The Hamilton Conservation Authority did not respond before publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n