Spring was late to Minnesota this year. The beaver pond and its inhabitants have been a favorite photographic muse since 2015, and with the average temperatures rising annually throughout the decade, my accessibility to the beavers has been as early as March 14. Since the 2018 winter followed past climatic patterns, I assumed that I'd be photographing these little engineers in March once again. Because unpredictability is the only predictable assumption one can now make about weather this century, it should be no surprise that my spring intentions ran contradictory to expectation. The unseasonably warm winter was followed by a heavy April snowfall and chilly cold conditions. As a result, I was not able to photograph the beavers until mid-May. During my second visit to the pond, I witnessed with a cornucopia of wildlife and accelerated spring behaviors that included migratory birds, a newborn fawn, mating beavers, and a rather hasty raccoon. Although spring was late, all seemed fine with the world on this May morning.

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