"A Sand County Almanac"

"THERE ARE SOME WHO CAN LIVE WITHOUT WILD THINGS AND SOME WHO CANNOT."
"FOR US IN THE MINORITY THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE GEESE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TELEVISION.".....Aldo Leopold



"LOOK DEEP INTO NATURE, AND THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING BETTER".....Albert Einstein


“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves”.....John Muir


Thursday, June 28, 2012

Beaver Family At Last

This morning I returned to the den site that I located earlier in the week to see if I might be lucky enough to find more beaver activity.  I arrived at 0610 and, although the sun was not up yet, I could make out two beavers near the den entrance.  They appeared to be grooming each other, a common activity among this species.  I set my ISO at 4500, opened my aperature to it's widest setting and hoped for the best...


After several minutes of this mutually beneficial activity the pair swam off together. I hoped this would not be my only sighting for the day...


I need not have worried for the largest one, a female I presume, soon returned to the den entrance and was quickly greeted by a kit...


Almost immediately, a second kit appeared...


After some affectionate muzzeling and grooming the mother swam away from the den entrance with the kits close behind...


The mother quickly put a little distance between herself and the kits when a third appeared and joined the first two...


The mother submerged and left the kits swimming together in some confusion...






The mother reappeared after a few minutes and swam with her young...



The kits continued to swim together, or alone...


Beavers submerge by quickly diving, sometimes with a splash of their tails...


One of the kits in particular swam out of sight upstream
only to quickly return and swim out of sight downstream...




For a moment it looked like he was going to climb out of the water...



But he seemed to think better of that idea and rejoined his litter mate...


This is the first time I have had the opportunity to photograph so much interaction and activity at a beaver den.  Several people have asked me how I locate the dens.  In this case a leaf that was stationary in a stream was the first clue.  It did not move because a beaver had pushed the limb that it is attached to into the bottom of the stream so that it could dine at it's leasure.  If you look behind the leaf you will see a small stick with the bark eaten away.  This is another reliable sign of beavers in the area...


Carp are performing their spawning rituals in this stream so I snapped a couple of photos of these interesting fish...



Thanks for stopping by, be sure to come back soon.





















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