I saw that on leap-year day, February 29, as I stood gingerly on the pond ice, after we had a thaw and then the return of cold that froze everything back up, save for these holes of thin ice that the otter managed to find. And the otter had a short swim to the dam, where, thanks to the lower water there was plenty of space for finding a den. Also a beaver dam is an excellent place to get some sun, thanks to the beavers cutting all those trees. Go to the next page to see what happened when the otters, for there were at least two of them fishing that day, moved on to the dam: page39