On a river near Perth, Ont., a boatload of wildlife photographers silently stalked their quarry on a recent fall evening.

With an electric trolling motor providing propulsion, the water remained millpond-flat as they glided upstream. But then a splash rang out like a shot as their target’s tail slapped the water and the creature dove beneath the surface.

The mythical white beaver had smelled them.

Ottawa photographer Dennis Jackson had never expected to see such a rare creature, despite a lifetime spent capturing images of wildlife.

After spotting the white beaver on a boat trip with his neighbour a few weeks back, Jackson was eager to return to the river with pre-eminent Canadian naturalist Michael Runtz, his wife Britta Runtz, who is also a professional photographer, and a CBC reporter.

Beyond hoping for another sighting, Jackson wanted to answer a question: Was this beaver an albino — which would be an unlikely survival story given that most albino animals are nearly blind — or leucistic, a genetic condition that causes a partial loss of pigmentation?

The white beaver had appeared again at dusk, but after smelling the humans it was not clear if it would stick around to answer the question.

Regular readers of this website (if there are still any) will remember that the Piebald beaver from Winters California was way cooler. But he didn’t have a photo shoot with Michael Runtz.