BACK AT THE POND...AMERICAN BEAVER

This photo was taken as we were sitting under the trees.  We have our favorite spots in various places and this is one of them at the pond.  

It also happens to be next to where a lot of activity was going on.  A channel of water had been excavated, and a narrow dam was being built.  I have seen much larger ones elsewhere, but this seemed to suit his needs.

Our beaver is the largest rodent in North America, and here he comes.

At first he was bringing back big mouthfuls of mud to pack down the top of his lodge, as his soggy, wet, muddy face attested to.

After watching him several times press the mud packs down on what would have been his lodge roof, adding caked mud on top of other caked mud, he then started bringing back larger twigs and leaf matter to build his dam. The next photo shows him from a different angle, as we approached on the other side of the pond when we first arrived. You can see his paddle-like tail sticking out of the water.He keeps a wary eye on us at the same time, but we don't move from the bench and we had our zoom lens to take these photos.  We found it interesting that he chose a spot near to where people walked along the path, also excited children who were getting their first look at an American Beaver.  Many of those people, just like us, had come to see him.  We talked to several who were delighted that they were back.  I think the park people are letting them stay for a while.  Several well-established trees around the pond had a frame of wire mesh at their base.  To protect their trunks from sharp teeth no doubt.  There are plenty of trees in the woods on which they can nibble.More back and forth going on, not stopping at all.

At one time we saw him disappear in a sea of green weed.  Before that he was in the middle of the pond nibbling on water lily roots.

It took us a few seconds to realize that the big clump of green floating towards us had something underneath.

Out popped a nose! This plant is called Common pondweed, also called Yankee weed, Canadian waterweed, Water thyme, American pondweed, to name a few.  It is native to North America but considered an invasive species in Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa…

as it has been widely sold in the aquarium industry for its oxygenating properties.  Unfortunately, in the wild it outcompetes native plants, clogs up rivers and streams, and drainage channels, also obstructing boats.  

Not good news at all but the beavers love it here, so in that sense it is helping our environment, I hope? More research on that subject is needed.  You can read more here.  There is also an interesting pdf file at this link on what they eat.

As we observed them during our time spent on the bench, we realized we were actually seeing two, a male and female. We saw them swimming together briefly.  Someone had also seen two babies but there were none visible to us. As mentioned earlier, our very talented, dam-building Beaver is the largest rodent in all of North America. They have a wide variance in terms of size. They can range from 33 to 75 pounds depending on where they live and what they have to eat. They usually average about 45 pounds and the males are larger than the females. 

Anyway, we could have stayed there for another hour but it was time to move on.  Other people arrived at the pond and sat down as soon as we left.

I found the following illustration online. You can enlarge any of my photos and diagram to see them more clearly.  

This website has great photos and fun facts.  I read the following:

"Beavers are like little submarines.  They can stay under the water for 15 minutes.  Their lips close behind their teeth allowing them to hold a branch with their teeth, swim under water and not drown.  And they have a set of transparent eyelids that cover their eyes as they swim, much like we would wear goggles underwater.  While submarines have propulsion systems to help them move in the water, beavers have webbed feet to propel them."

There was another visit last month that I haven't shared yet, but I will wait awhile before I do.  

I daresay we'll be going back to see how they are in a week or two.  It has been very enjoyable watching their progress so far.