The Beavers

I live in town but at the end of my street the railroad tracks head out of town and
go about seven miles to the next town. They follow the path of turtle creek for
most of the way crossing it or small streams running into it numerous times.Five
minutes of walking and I'm out of town in a mix of fields and thickets.

beavers have made a slow stretch of the stream their home. There is allready a
deep hole and some high banks and they haven't made a dam. Im assuming
their home is up under the roots of one of the big sycamores that overhang the
creek
When I was young there were allmost no beavers in the state and none within
driving distance much less walking distance from my house. Its a huge victory for
conservation. Twenty years ago a walk down these tracks would have had me
looking for a groundhog at most and probably just a rabbit or two.Now there is the chance of beavers,coyote,deer, turkey and even otter. When I
was young I didn't have a prayer of seeing any of those.
I left the tracks and was skirting a field edge a
little further along and spotted several halfgrown turkeys following their mother
along a path thru the high weeds,ironweed and goldenrod. ..







After shooting these hurried photos of the turkeys I walked on down to the
creek. I walked out onto a flat rock bar where the creek ran thru a shallow
stretch between holes. Standing there quietly for a few moments, the weeds
began to shake downstream and a large beaver appeared and swam towards
me. I was dressed in a flannel shirt and dark pants and the beaver seemed
oblivious to me passing by at about ten feet!..











all within a mile walk of my house . There are of course many grave reasons to
be concerned over the fate of things wild in our ever changing world, but amid
all the gloom and doom it's nice to see the results of some of the good news.