We went to Mint Springs just after the sun went down tonight. The sky was leaden with grey lumpy clouds except to the west, where a large opening showed a pink thunderhead - lit by the sunken sun. A couple of red- winged blackbirds landed on cattail stumps calling harshly. Two geese were feeding, a third, smaller, bird was the sentinel.
The maples by the shelter, yesterday red and fluffy with maple
flowers, are now green and soft with tiny maple leaves. The green blush has gone a third of the way
up the hills. The trees on the top two-thirds
are still brushy and gray. The light silhouettes the tree trunks and branches on
the ridge top, defining the ground with a tree lace edge.
As we walked around the pond I missed the beavers that have lived in the pond over the years.
It was always at this time of evening we saw their wakes, long silver
streaks across the pond.
They built lodges and raised their young. Soon we’d see the pencil tips of chewed
saplings - next year’s coppice. Eventually
hubris undid the beavers. One year it
was a large tree felled across the hidden inlet to the pond, another it was a
huge willow limb chewed off near the path to the pond. These great feats announced the beavers to
the park authorities and the beavers were removed. It always took a few years for a new set of
beavers to discover the pond. I think
this time they may be gone for good.
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