River otters carry a NatureServe S4 apparently secure rank in Nebraska, reflecting a species that was extirpated from the state and only returned through a reintroduction program beginning in the late 1980s along the Niobrara and other river systems. The record splits fairly evenly between iNaturalist (10) and GBIF (21) for just 23 total sightings, a thin dataset for a mammal that ranges widely and is easy to miss even where present.
Records spread across nine separate months with February and March tied for the highest count (4 each), and the record goes completely silent in August and September, a gap that likely reflects reduced observer activity along Nebraska’s rivers during the hottest stretch of summer.
