So my wife & I went down to the lake yesterday to see if the fish had begun to venture out from the deep. They hadn’t, but we soon saw the loons swimming in our direction. It was not the two of us that had caught the loons’ attention, but rather a large beaver who was relaxing in the water. The two loons came right up to him, and the male loon got within inches. Mr. Loon and Beaver just looked at each other, but it was apparent that Mr. Loon won the staring contest. Beaver then frantically swam in circles, before heading back to our shore. (The loons escorted him, not unlike the Coast Guard!)
So Beaver lands about 20 feet from where we’re standing…and he has no idea we’re even there. He sat upright, picked up his tail & set it in front so he could then sit on it. He yawned. He scratched his elbows. He rubbed his face. He scratched his butt. He yawned again…and fell asleep.
Yet I don’t know how he could fall asleep with all the racket that was going on. There were Canadian geese on the adjacent lake…their honking sounded just like a car alarm. The pileated woodpeckers sounded like jackhammers. The thumping grouse sounded like an engine trying (and failing) to start. The bluejays and robins were splashing in the shallow water…not unlike kids playing around an open fire hydrant. And the frogs provided just enough “busy noise” to imitate traffic noise.
And we realized that we have our own urban environment out here in the sticks of northern Wisconsin!
