I have always wanted to see a beaver in the wild, but have never quite gotten it done. Although the Creek where my husband and I are now walking on a weekly basis has beaver in it, they are nocturnal and I am most definitely diurnal. So I was resigned to having to make a major effort to be in a beaver-infested area after dark, and well, it hadn’t happened yet.

So imagine my surprise when my husband pointed one out as it paddled down the creek in front of us yesterday.

I kept telling him that it must be a muskrat, because there was no way a beaver would be out at 9:00 in the morning.

The muskrat/beaver headed for a bunch of logs caught on some rocks. It hauled itself out and through as my husband and I scampered to catch up.

We saw it again just as it was going back into the water. There was no mistaking the big flat tail — it was indeed a beaver!

The beaver paddled slowly down the creek, obviously intent on going … someplace.

It floated on down the creek. I thought it was oblivious to me. When it went into a concrete culvert, I dashed ahead to be in position when it came out. But when it appeared at the other end, it stopped and looked directly at me. It waited a few minutes until I got the message and backed off. Then it continued on it’s way.

Finally, it looked like it had reached its destination. It climbed up the bank, occasionally sliding back down, and headed towards a tree.

The beaver was climbing the tree! I thought it might go a few feet, then stop and chew on some stems, but it went up the sloping trunk a full six feet.

Then it fell — plop!

Completely unfazzed by it’s unceremonious descent, it shook itself off, picked up first one stick …

… then another, smaller branch before disappearing into shrubbery too dense for even me to follow it.

Just as well. Although I had tried to be respectful of it, I had obviously intruded on the beaver’s space at least once. I needed to go bask in my luck at having seen a beaver in the wild at all, and let it go on it’s way.