A little more than a year ago I first met Buckey. I was paddling my kayak and noticed him swimming along side of me. So as not to scare him, I pulled in the paddles and drifted for about a half hour. Another beaver joined him and they frolicked back and forth in the water around me, but Buckey seemed intrigued by this odd stranger and he remained with me even after the other beaver swam off. When I got out of my kayak he was still just off-shore clearly keeping an eye on me.
I've met up with Buckey a few times since ... at least I believe it is Buckey. In his beaver way, he seems to have acknowledged our friendship, though he has never ventured closer than about 25 feet from me. But he (or maybe she) has always treated me in a special way. Normally, a beaver will, on encountering a human, make a loud show of splashing his tail and then disappear under water. Instead, Buckey circles me again and again, maybe pausing to chew on a branch, but the expected splash never comes. I like to think that means we are friends.
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