Archive for March, 2008

For those who enjoy gossiping about beavers

We have achieved our second piece of press coverage! Thanks cvillain.com for spreading the word about this website.

UBLM: Unidentified Beaver-Like Mammal

Dianna provides us with our first submission from Illinois:

Okay. I have searching the internet all day to figure out what I saw this past Saturday. I wish I had taken a picture, but I was just trying to figure out what the little buddy was doing in the middle of the road. I live in Plainfield, Illinois. I was driving and in the middle of the road (next to a corn field and Family Video) there was a beaver-like mammal right there. I was at a light, so I rolled down the window and literally said “Hey, are you alright little buddy?” He looked at me with his beaver like eyes/face and turned around and starting walking slowly the other way. That is when I saw his tail. Not at all beaver-like. It was long and hairy, but sort of flat like a ribbon, and didn’t look stiff. I have no idea what I saw. Maybe he was a muskrat with a hairy tail, or a Nutria…but they are extinct in Illinois.

Hmmmmm…the mystery. I hope I see him again.

First submission of 2008!

Skip writes:

You should ask WBLM radio in Portland, Maine to link to your site. The generally leave off the “W” when doing station identifications and just use “BLM”.

Anyway, my name is Skip and I saw this really tame groundhog in Fort Halifax park in Winslow ME on July 25, 2007. I was using a zoom lens, and was about 30 feet away from him. I was surprised to be able to get so close, since he would have had to cross about 100 feet of open lawn to get to some sort of cover. Here he is, at a life-threatening distance of about 30′ with no crop at 400mm. These guys are faster than greased lightning and can cover small distances like that in the blink of an eye, so I was pretty nervous. Luckily, he had fed well, and the desire to slash human throats was suppressed enough to allow this encounter with no direct confrontation. I stood my ground when he flashed his razor-sharp teeth and growled at me. I don’t expect to always be this lucky.

Thanks Skip for the captivating story and great photos. Let’s hope this exciting sighting is a preview of things to come for BLM Season 2008.

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