"Out & About" Photo Blog: 2nd Marsh -- December 14th, 2012

I went down to the marsh yesterday to see if the beavers were active. Lady Luck was with me. I saw the 5 or 6 that I was told about on my last visit. I saw five at one time so there are at least five of them there. Apparently there is typically a male & female and their last two broods in a family group.

The light, the sky and the lake were very different from my last visit. This is Farewell Creek entering Lake Ontario.

Last time I took 'rock shots'. Today it was shells. This looks like a Land Snail shell. When you look at the lake sand closely, it looks more like course salt & pepper with a couple other spices mixed in.

The patterns in the sand look like frozen waves.

Some shells are separate, but others are 'hooked' together. Bleached mussels?

The beavers' lodge is in a bay off the lake. From what I've read, this may or may not be their lodge. It might be food for the winter. Their lodge may be nearby on the shore somewhere. They don't need to build a dam in a bay.

I watched them for about half an hour. All they did was swim around, ducking underwater now & then.

Swimming is so much fun.

This was the only productive thing I saw while I was there. This guy had a small branch in his mouth, trailing off to his side. I lost track of what he did with it though. Maybe it was snack time.

There were a couple sitting on the ice. I was there about the noon hour. This one was having lunch I guess.

Maybe a short nap before another swim.

Some of their branches drifted away and were caught against the ice on the lake. They swam by them but didn't bother rescuing any of them, further indication that their work was done I guess.

Their 'pre-assembly' area, or their lodge?

Well-worn pathways and lots of branches.

As I left the beavers, most were underwater. I was treated to 3 or 4 tail-slaps at the last minute. Most often, tail-slaps are warnings of danger but one reference said they were sometimes just in fun. Maybe they were saying 'Hi'. Or maybe they were saying, "Enough pictures! Take your camera and go home". I did.

Some nice color on my walk back along the berm.