“Beavering”

LaDow, Mary Beth | from Multimedia Library Collection:
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© Mary Beth LaDow. All rights reserved.

LaDow, Mary Beth. “Beavering.” Springs: The Rachel Carson Center Review, no. 5 (June 2024).

Spring is approaching. The beavers have left a single stick about a meter long across the pond outlet, marking their intentions. “No mud yet, but we are back.” Like humans, beavers do not hibernate; they have spent the winter hunkered down in a warm lodge of their devising, a pair mated for life packed in with several kits and yearlings and the occasional muskrat, safe from predators. Now the long winter of mating and living on stockpiled branches is ending. We humans (my husband and I) pull the stick from the water and toss it aside. Our annual dance with the beavers has begun: for eight months, April through November, we perform a Castor pas de deux. (From the article)

This article was originally published in Springs: The Rachel Carson Center Review. Springs is an online publication featuring peer-reviewed articles, creative nonfiction, and artistic contributions that showcase the work of the Rachel Carson Center and its community across the world.

2024 Mary Beth LaDow

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