Wildlife researcher RJ Hawkins photographs the first Bronx River otter in a century

NPR | By Scott Simon

Published August 22, 2026 at 6:43 AM CDT

RJ Hawkins caught a photo of the first sighted otter in the Bronx River since the early 1900s. He talks to NPR's Scott Simon how he did it and why it's important.

Scott Simon

Scott Simon is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First.

See stories by Scott Simon

Related Content

Ozarks at Large Stories

Renovated Yvonne Richardson Community Center opens to the street

Kyle Kellams

Fayetteville's Yvonne Richardson Community Center reopens after a bond-funded expansion that adds a teaching kitchen, classrooms, a new maple court, plus a front porch facing the neighborhood.
Arts & Culture

Waterwitch film series returns this fall with a Halloween lean

Kyle Kellams

Waterwitch's third season of screenings opens Sept. 10 in the Garden Room at Puritan on Dickson Street, with "Lady Snowblood," "Beau Travail," "Titane," plus cult horror film "House."
Ozarks at Large Stories

Franklin County prison plan appears dead as Fort Smith weighs change

Kyle Kellams, Michael Tilley

Michael Tilley on emails suggesting the 3,000-bed Franklin County prison is off, a fourth daily American flight for Fort Smith Regional, plus a November vote on Fort Smith's form of government.