For the last nine months, I’ve been running seven infrared trail cameras in wetlands around Beaverton and Forest Grove — originally to capture the daily lives of beavers for a future story.
Along the way, I’ve been surprised by visitors I can’t immediately identify. One of those animals is in the video above, and I even called a wildlife specialist to be sure.
The cameras have captured this four-legged swimmer a dozen times since last August — moving along a beaver dam and slipping through a culvert under the four lanes of SW Barnes Road in the Beaverton/Cedar Mill area. The wetland sits next to apartments and nearby businesses, on land owned by The Wetlands Conservancy…