IF I HAD TO PICK a favorite animal, the beaver would find itself heading the list. Oh, I know the placement of dams built by these wondrous creatures can upset folks who have different land-use objectives, but I really enjoy their company.

Last summer our current beaver pair rebuilt the dam that our former beaver tenants abandoned several years ago. Strangely enough, this new pair has constructed an additional dam upstream. The why or need for this dam is beyond me, but the behavior traits of these ingenious animals have aroused my curiosity before with respect to their odd and sometimes peculiar performances.

Beaver ponds attract many other animals and, with the exception of river otters, beavers appear quite willing to share their pond with them. I came to that conclusion several years ago when the first pair of beavers constructed a dam. They turned our original half-acre “dug” pond into a nearly two- acre body of water. In time, the enlarged pond attracted many species of birds including wild turkeys, grackles, song sparrows, scarlet tanagers, catbirds and several kinds of warblers. These birds built nests among the various shrubs and small trees that grew around the pond's edge.

Tree swallows and bluebirds nested nearby in bird houses mounted on 6-foot galvanized pipes. A pair of wood ducks and a pair of hooded mergansers nested in “duck” boxes mounted on two separate trees within the bounds of the pond. Mammals also visited the pond's edge including muskrats who built their small lodge not far from that of the beavers, meadow mice, raccoons, mink, woodchucks, two buck deer in the “velvet,” does with their fawns, foxes on the run, and the river otter that was not welcomed. The otter had a tough battle with one old beaver resulting in the otter's immediate departure.

Believing it came from the Ashuelot River, I assume it returned there to permanently reside.

One summer day a large moose appeared in the field close to the pond and caused traffic to back up in both directions along NH Route 10, much to the displeasure of the highway patrol. My good friend Ted Walski, NH Fish & Game Department biologist, a Swanzey police officer and I finally “bushed” the moose back into the woods. The traffic “jam” cleared itself.

A good friend of legislative days, the Honorable Bernard Raynowska of North Salem, knowing of my strong interest in beavers, mailed me a copy of a front-page article in the Eagle Tribune, Sunday New Hampshire edition for April 22 I found the story he'd marked most interesting. It was entitled: “A brighter view for herons thriving in North Andover due to protection of beavers.” A large photo of a great blue heron flying onto its bulky nest of sticks fully illustrated the page. That heron's nest was one of many such nests that make up a “rookery” at Carter Fields in North Andover, Mass., according to the story.

Author Douglas Moser, delightfully described the great blue heron as: “a slender and elegant water bird with a lavender hue and a long, pointed beak ...

. Like many things in nature there is a connection between creatures in the wild.

Beaver ponds cause trees to drown, but the dead trees attract the great blue heron, which often return year after year.” A continued page photograph was captioned: “Herons aren't the only birds nesting at the Carter Fields rookery.” Pictured was an adult great horned owl with two nestlings in front of it.

All three were peering out from an abandoned heron's nest. According to the article, the young owls are expected to leave their nest before the heron eggs hatch.

Our beaver pond has always attracted both great blue and green herons. As far as I have observed, there are no fish left of any size.

However, both herons and belted kingfishers do find sufficient food such as: frogs, salamanders and other aquatic animals to motivate their frequent return.

Some day herons may be tempted to nest within the confines of our beaver pond, attracted by the several dead or dying pine trees remaining there. As the total area is small with respect to most heron rookeries I have visited, a pair of green herons might well build their stick nests in one of those trees.

Green herons are typically “isolationists,” in that they do not form nest colonies or “rookeries” as do the great blues.

Last year, Chris Leahy of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, in a report, “State of the Birds,” wrote that the resurgence of the area's beaver population has led to a subsequent revival and expansion of the great blue heron population in that state. Leahy said: “With less trapping and the return of the forests, an increase in the last 150 years, beavers are back big time.”

Stacey Cole's address is 529 W. Swanzey Road, Swanzey 03446.