Ever see a beaver and a lynx hanging out together? Now you have

Over the past few weeks readers have shared their photos of one of the state’s coolest critters, the Canada lynx.

But the shot reader Brian Donaghy of Unity sent along may just take the cake.

Here’s what Donaghy had to say:

A Canada lynx and a beaver check each other out in the Allagash last fall. (Photo courtesy of Brian Donaghy)

A Canada lynx and a beaver check each other out in the Allagash last fall. (Photo courtesy of Brian Donaghy)

“I’d like to submit a nice lynx photo that I pulled from some video footage this fall in the Allagash,” Donaghy wrote. “I spotted a lynx lying down in a logging road and I had my video camera so I started sneaking up on it to film. Long story short, the lynx was lying on a beaver crossing and eventually got agitated with me and ran off 30 yards and sat down.

“Right then, an extremely large — probably 60-pound — beaver started crossing the road right where the lynx was,” Donaghy wrote. “So I have a picture of both the beaver and the lynx in the same frame.”

Yes, Brian. You do.

“After the beaver crossed the lynx ran back down to the crossing, looked the beaver in the water, looked at me, and scooted off,” he wrote.

The lynx stands in the road, just minutes before the beaver joins it for a photo op. (Photo courtesy of Brian Donaghy)

The lynx stands in the road, just minutes before the beaver joins it for a photo op. (Photo courtesy of Brian Donaghy)

In a follow-up email, Donaghy apologized for the quality of the shot, which was captured from that video footage, in fading daylight.

“This was the third Canada lynx I’ve seen, but not many fall or winter days go by now with snow on the ground where I do not see Canada lynx tracks whether I’m down in The Forks or up in the Allagash,” he wrote. “I’ve noticed a steady increase in Canada lynx sign in the last five years. With the [looming] spruce budworm on the horizon, the Canada lynx population in Maine is bound to just keep increasing and dispersing into new areas of the state. This spruce budworm will create a lot of new ideal Canada lynx habitat.”

 

 

John Holyoke

About John Holyoke

John Holyoke has been enjoying himself in Maine's great outdoors since he was a kid. Today, he's the Outdoors editor for the BDN, a job that allows him to meet up with Maine outdoors enthusiasts in their natural habitat. The stories he gathers provide fodder for his columns, and this blog.