Fortune smiled on me this beautiful Mother’s Day morning as I immediately realized from the size and shape of the animal’s head that it was likely a beaver. There was little doubt when its large, round form emerged onto the far bank. There was no doubt left when its broad flat tail finally came out of the water: for only the third time in my life, I was watching a beaver in the wild.
I was feeling pretty blessed, watching the beaver preening, when a second form appeared out of the corner of my eye. To my delight, a smaller beaver climbed up onto the bank next to the large one and began grooming itself before finally snuggling up to the larger beaver.
Upon getting home, I learned that there is no difference in size between beaver sexes, but that the young often stay with the parents for the first couple of years, so this is most likely parent and child. I don’t know the sex of the older beaver, but given the day, I’d like to think they were mother and child.