Monday, April 16, 2012

A little hike today

The beaver used to live about 1/2 mile downstream from us. Last summer, they moved upstream and started to clear out the brush behind our house. They now have a large, shallow open pond and they have built a lodge in it that is about as tall as one story of my house!  The pond attracts a large number of Canada geese, Mallard ducks, Wood ducks and various other wildlife.

Beaver chew marks 
 I took a closer photo so you could admire their handiwork.  They chewed down this tree and ate the bark.

Teeth Marks 
 A closer view of the end of the log.  See how much they chew?

Long ago beaver handiwork

The beaver have been around here for a long time.  This is the decades-old remains of a tree they felled last time they were up at this end of the stream.

When we moved here seven years ago, there were no beaver in the stream at this end at all.  They were all upstream.  They moved down a few years ago and now even closer.  I enjoy having them around, although I must admit it takes some time to get used to hearing the CRASH and SPLASH of trees falling in the night!

4 comments:

Susan said...

How neat to have the beavers so close! We went for a walk at the Hebron Nature Preserve the other weekend, and we saw some great evidence of beavers there.

Elizabeth said...

My walk resulted in a TICK on the back of my neck! First time I've ever gotten one around here. Toby has had a few this fall and spring, though. YUCK.

Susan said...

UGH!! We have a TON of ticks around here...Lauren had one on the back of her neck this morning, too.

Ann said...

Wow, how wonderful to have beavers near you!

Sorry to hear about the ticks, we are getting more here in the UK, one turned up on my floor a couple of years ago, I didn't know if it came off my dog or my DH.