Holy Beaver

I hope some of you skilled outdoor folks can tell me a bit about beavers....like what they do when they want you to go away sooner rather than later....

Another birder, more skilled than I, recently started walking a really nice state trail along the former Erie Canal towpath. It's the most incredibly awesome place you could imagine, lined out along the remains of the old canal, featuring an antique lock of impressive proportions.

In pursuit of the good birds she sees there, and maybe a few of our own, we walked it the other day. It was fun but the boss didn't have a warm enough jacket so we stopped and went home. 

Doesn't this leucistic Canada Goose look like a granny wearing a mob cap?

Then last night he sat in the car while I wandered down it at the end of a long day of quarantine related confinement to quarters.....thanks, I needed that!

It was amazing. Full of peace and calm and wild glory. I didn't see a single human soul for the better part of an hour. I won't bore you with the wonderful birds that literally accompanied me (geese and a Wood Duck, carefully preceding me up and down the canalway, keeping just the right distance from my danger). Trust me that they were many and varied.

However I had an encounter that was somewhat uncanny. I was standing at the very end of one bit of walkway right next to the big lock, glassing over a large swampy area lined with water-killed trees and festooned with swampy vegetation.

A rustle in the tall grass RIGHT NEXT TO ME caused me to notice a beaver a few feet to my right. I turned to look and grab a photo as it walked up the bank next to a bit of limestone foundation there. 

It stood up on its hind feet, threw its head back and began to hiss like a tea kettle. It was most alarming. 

I grabbed a couple of quick shots and backed away precipitously as it waddled slowly down the bank, hissing the while, and slipped slowly into the water. Then it swam around in a little circle sounding more like a rattlesnake than a big rodent.

As I hustled away without getting even half a look at the swamp it blasted its tail down upon the mirrored surface as it to say, "Take that!"

And again, "Take that. And that! And that!"

Wood Duck giving me the stink eye as he slowly glides just so far, but no farther
away from me down the Erie

I can't lie. I wasn't exactly terrified, but I sure was concerned that it was going to come after me and bite me. Not sure if I accidentally walked too close to it...having not seen it...or if it came out of the water to threaten me.....However, I was quite happy that it went east while I went west.

Canada Gosling

And that is all. I think the next time...and I surely hope there will soon be one....I will cross the little wooden bridge and admire the swamp from the other side of the lock.

Here is my checklist for that excellent walk through the waning hours.

Taken at a different swamp, but this is what those teeth can do.