back to where the beavers work

post #130
       Before the recent rains we've been having, I returned to make more photos of beaver activity.  The hike there requires several crossings of the creek.  Less water in the creek means 1) easier crossings! 2) less chance to fall in the creek and get the camera wet! and 3) more time for taking photos!  I ended up leaving the house in the late afternoon, so I didn't make it back home until 8 pm, just before dark.

      First, signs of beaver dining and destruction:

     These stumps seemed like an h'ors d'oeuvre or perhaps a training opportunity.  The close up of the stump tops that follows in the second photo reveals dual spiders...who knew! 

      

        

         

      Another duality seems to be at play here on this log.  I wonder if this could be a his and her munchies bar?  Or a parent/child side by side training effort?  There is so much I don't know.

        
      Here are two variations on beaver paths to the water, or perhaps a beaver slide is a better word:

     The Wikipedia beaver information says the purpose of these trees which may drown in the water is to create "standing dead wood" which is a necessary food for "a wide range of animals and plants."

  The area these beavers cover has high cliffs, on one side, and many trees left to choose from.

        

      These last two photos show the last dam of three that I could see on the creek.  The second photo shows a detail from the first -- a very clever severing of the tree trunk, though the tree itself was caught in another tree so it has not yet fallen across the creek.  (I am standing on a hillside; I am not in a tree!)

    
      There have been some heavy rains since I took these photos a week ago.  And it is raining tonight.  I look forward to another visit there when I can make it.  Beavers work at night, and I do not.  But other years I have seen beavers in nearby lakes, in the daytime, so who knows what is possible if one has ample fits of curiosity!