Because we live right on the Des Lacs River, we often get to see and hear animals and birds that everyone knows about but seldom see in their local areas.
My explanation for this is the critters are around. I’m certain of it. And if you aren’t right on top of it, you won’t often have those chance encounters.
As an example, I was mowing grass on the lawn around my garden and what do I see on the opposite river bank? There was a badger digging a hole in plain sight of me and my loud lawn mower. It didn’t seem to be bothered by me, apparently because it must have thought the river was a barrier.
On another occasion, a mink took up residence under our porch. That was a little weird because we come and in out of our house every day and make noise stepping across the porch. But, there it was, moving grass clippings and leaves and such presumably making a nest and getting ready for winter.
This one might be a little cumbersome to explain, but there is a spot in my garden that is quite rocky so the soil was never tilled. Instead, if there are branches or garden vegetation, I just pile it there to be removed at a more convenient time.
As I was over there several days ago, I reckon I don’t have to remove it. The beavers are doing that for me. And this is the strange part. We had a damaged tree in our yard and we had to cut it down. I piled the branches in that same spot because my wood chipper was in for repair and the intent was to make chips out of those branches.
I thought that I’ve been around beavers long enough to at least understand their behavior, but with this one, I’m puzzled. They left the branches that were easy access and went for the branches, some of them that had been there for a couple of years. They basically cleared that spot out and left the most recent for me and the wood chipper.
I’ve written about this before, but several years ago, I was doing my gardening in the evening and a beaver would come out of the river and graze in the garden not more than eight or 10 feet from me. I started talking and it didn’t make a difference. It wasn’t afraid of me. OK, I’ll sing to it. That will surely drive it off. Nope, the beaver wasn’t phased by me standing there with a hoe in my hand. That happened throughout that summer.
We have raccoons and deer running around town at night. Seldom do we see them during the day, but if we are up late at night, we’ll almost always get a visit. The deer seem to have a pattern. They come out of the city park, walk onto a neighbor’s lawn and start grazing like clockwork, about 9:30 every night. It’s hard to say what the raccoons are looking for as they haven’t done any damage and normally, they can be quite destructive.
On numerous occasions, we’ll hear the coyotes yipping off in the distance. Because we live in a valley, there are plenty of draws for them to hide in. And just like other nocturnal animals, they’re out at night, yipping at the moon or cattle or something else.
We’ve had moose take up residence in a grove of trees right outside of town. It happens to be alongside the main route to the Minot Air Force Base. So when we’re traveling along Ward County Highway 6, we have to be a bit careful because there may be moose out there. And, with Lake Darling being only six miles east, it makes perfect sense that it would be their habitat.
Every so often one or two blue herons will land on the river. They get spooked easily so when I see them, I try to be really careful and quiet so I can observe them. They are very large birds and a bit awkward, but quite a gift in nature no doubt.
If you’ve ever seen a map of the Des Lacs River, you’ll know that it meanders a lot. On some of those bends, rip rap was placed to stop erosion. On many occasions, especially when it’s hot, I’ll see numerous turtles sunning themselves on those rocks. They must have tremendous eye sight because as soon as I make the slightest move, they’re gone.
And speaking of turtles, I was about to go to work in the garden one day and I saw something on the road, again Ward County Highway 6, that looked like an alligator crossing the road. It was walking slowly and abruptly like a gator. Of course, it’s not an alligator in North Dakota. Turns out, it was a huge turtle and as I got closer, I’d say that turtle had to weigh more than 50 pounds.
And finally, there is at least one marten living in Carpio. I saw it hanging out on the riverbank one day and I’m guessing it was waiting for fish to swim past it. Martens are rare in North Dakota and not often seen outside the Turtle Mountains, but we have at least one in our neighborhood.
