Beavers in action!

 

Where we were camping at Thumb Lake there was a HUGE beaver lodge about a 1/4 mile from camp. The beavers would routinely swim past our camp. At one point there were 5 beavers all swimming around in circles in front of our camp. If you walked along the beach they would slap their tails in alarm on the water. We even heard them doing the slap for bears walking along the beach.

Along the shore you could see the remains of willow trees that they had cut down. There were little trails through the grass down to the beach where they dragged the branches they harvested. In the evening we even watched them eating the bark and leaves off of the branches in the shallow waters of the lake. They also seemed to leave a lot in the water for later. In the winter I gather they go back under the ice and find the branches they left there in summer.

Busy little guys!

Patrick

beaver getting ready to SLAP!

beaver cut branches dragged into the shallow water for later consumption

beaver cut willows in the process of getting dragged to lake