Have you ever been down to see the beavers in the morning, when no one else is there, and the only sounds are train whistles and garbage trucks? All the noisy drunks are asleep, and no one is even out walking their dogs yet?. Then a sighting seems less like ‘meeting an old friend’ and more like a Grand Discovery. That’s how it was the June morning when I first spotted this year’s kit. We only saw one at first. It took a few weeks before we knew about the TRIO.
All month I had been waking up with a sense of “ITS TIME!!!” even though it would have been much better for me to sleep for another hour. It could hardly have been rational since we never saw a kit last year and mom was obviously not well. Even though I told myself it was probably not possible, I found my groggy self in the stillness at the bridge, waiting. Foremost in my mind were two blessed mornings two and three years ago when I had stumbled down at dawn and been greeted by furry wonders. The first time, June 13th 2007, when I was alone and discovered my first ever kit will always be such a startling, dramatic memory. I can’t tell you how forcefully I didn’t expect it. Forget Dads and Grads, June is now forever the month of new kits. Every summer after I have remembered that wonder and half-expected to feel it again – I certainly wasn’t thinking about the hundreds of times I came and saw nothing. (Any truly compulsive gambler only remembers her successes.)
We were so happy to find out that we had as many as three! And have been so comforted by how finely they seem to have grown so far. Clearly they are well on their way to becoming their own beavers. October will mark their 5th month. We’ve seen them all go over the dam and forage on their own. We’ve seen them mudding and putting sticks on the dam now. But it all started with the discovery: A morning alone with wonder. When I saw this remarkable video yesterday it reminded me so much of that feeling, I thought I would share.
