Last night Worth A Dam trotted expectantly to the water’s edge with lenses of every variety, hoping for a chance to see the new beaver. Others showed up too and we lined the bridge with hopeful faces ready to snap photos. Channel 2 called me about running the video. The tiny beaver was never seen even once. And we were sorely disappointed.
But there were compensations.
Around 7:30 it seemed like the beaver alarm clock went off and there were suddenly beavers in every direction. At one point we saw three adults at once, and then Jr from last year. And then mom from this year. That’s four adults and one yearling and one baby who never came out. Six! When we thought we had four?
Who could the other adult be? Not a stranger or a mate for one of the other adults. Beavers are territorial and only let mated pair breed. How could a new beaver arrive? Strangers aren’t tolerated but family members are always welcomed back. Beavers are just like adult children who sometimes ‘boomerang’ back after an unsuccessful launch. GQ was a returning disperser who showed up at just the right time to raise mom’s orphans. Could this new beaver be one of our 2010 kits who gave up on independence and came home?
What if a returning family member brought a kit and that’s why we’re weirdly seeing them so early? I have heard of beavers letting family members bring offspring and raising them as their own. I guess the only way we can tell is to photograph every beaver in a reaching position – so that we know if more than one of them have teats?
Gosh I miss mom with her lovely tail marking. She was beaver introduction 101.
