At Nature’s Nest, my cottage on Tupper Lake in Nova
Scotia, my closest neighbour is a beaver.
The two of us enjoy the quiet evenings on the lake. I
sit in my newly acquired Adirondack chair, gazing out on the still water and
the ever-changing light. The beaver enjoys her evening meal.
She is not alone in her beaver lodge, though. During
the first days of my stay at Tupper Lake, at the end of July, there are three
beavers. Every dusk, almost like clockwork, their dark shapes glide through the
water, leaving a characteristic watery V in their wake. 
The beavers meander from lily pad to lily pad,
munching on the greenery as they go. I believe it is a mother beaver with two
progeny. Twice I hear them communicating with each other with a sound like
suckling puppies.
After a week, there are only two animals in the
evenings and then, after four to five weeks, only one. I suppose the young ones
have gone to find their fortunes somewhere else on Tupper Lake. By the end of
August, I can hear that the remaining (adult?) beaver is active on land. During
the day, I can see the results of her nocturnal labours. She has been busy
gathering branches and twigs from the woods, piling them on top of her beaver
lodge in preparation for winter. 
I like the idea of sharing my wood with a beaver and
other animals. One day, as I am sitting quietly on the veranda, reading a book,
a large creature of some sort comes barreling by. Branches break, leaves rustle
noisily. It is as if the creature was suddenly startled and took flight. All I
see is something kind of round and fuzzy – definitely not a deer. I think maybe
a raccoon but they are normally nocturnal so what’s up? 
I peer through the trees (on the right in the photo above) and spot what looks like two thick,
black, furry front legs and a furry black chest. “Jeez it’s a bear,” I say aloud
to myself. I gather up my lunch things and go inside, then go outside again.
The creature, whatever it was, is long gone. I am sorry to have frightened it.
I enjoy the biodiversity at Nature’s Nest and this
area in general. I have seen beavers, loons, deer, eagles, an osprey, ducks,
hummingbirds, chipmunks, squirrels, frogs, toads and, maybe, a bear. At night,
I have heard two kinds of owl, raccoons and bullfrogs. Driving at dusk, on my way
home from visiting friends, I have seen raccoon, porcupine and deer. A lynx and
her cub have been caught on a webcam on that very same road. I am aware that coyotes
can be in the area. 
Wild asters, sundew, cranberries, blueberries, Virginia
meadow beauty, lily pads, maple, hemlock, spruce, shockingly orange mushrooms
and various greenery I have not yet learned to identify are part and parcel of
Nature’s Nest.
