Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Canadian Beaver of the Vermilon River. A Post to WBW.

Beaver Dam North


The Vermilon River with its meandering course is a natural beaver habitat. Aboriginals call beaver the sacred centre of the land, because they steward the water, all wildlife is so dependent on. Currently wetlands created by beaver support almost half of the endangered species in NA.

Beaver were in many ways responsible for opening up NA to Europeans. They were eager to trap them for their fur to feed a trade that was fashion oriented. Scientists today estimate that only about ten percent of the original beaver population survives.

Beaver Dam in Front Of Above Photo.


Beaver Lodge



The top two photos indicate how intricate and extensive their engineering is.


The dam floods the valley making it possible to have underwater entrances to the lodge. The lodge has two rooms a drying room and a living room. This particular beaver pond the size of a small lake supports two lodges. The beaver then construct a work highway along the shore to facilitate movement of material. I said last year in a post that I suspected I was on the wrong side as I never saw any beaver and that I was going to hike,despite the distance,to the other side this year. The dam shown below holds the whole pond together.

East Track Beaver Pond.


Beaver Dam


Vermilon Wetland Beaver Dam.


Beaver Lodge Vermilon River Wetland.



Beaver are monogamous and kits remain with them only to help raise next years kits and then move on. Studies have indicated that they have cognitive ability, and learn quickly.


Well I finally got lucky and found some beaver.  And here they are. By the way you tell a beaver from a muskrat by the tail. The beaver's is flat and smacked on the water to indicate danger.

Swimming Beaver.


Close Up.


I'm not sure why this guy let me so close, perhaps he felt sorry for my frequent efforts to get photos, but he actually swam my way. There is a mining road in front of the pond and perhaps the noise of ore trucks covered up my noise.


Click To Enlarge Photos.

Front View.


Side View.



Beaver's have bigger noses than Boomer does.

Full View.


This is a shot of him on land. The facts are from http://www.beaversww.org/beavers-and-wetlands/about-beavers/ and Wikipedia.

White-throated Sparrow.



Since this is a bird site here is my token bird. She accompanied me on my flower hike the other day.



A Post to WBW @ http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

25 comments:

  1. Nice series of photos, Gary. Love the ones of the beaver. I am so glad beaver pelts have gone out of fashion!

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  2. This is a fascinating post. I love the beaver even though they flood our newly planted fields. We just hope they will not do it next year. Love your photos. B

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  3. glad you finally got some beaver photos to share with us. they are amazingly industrious critters. :)

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  4. Great beaver shots. I had seen a few from far away when I lived in Atlanta, along the river there. Nice token bird also.

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  5. Here the homeowner's association tries to get rid of the beaver. I rather enjoy them but they do cut down a lot of trees which are in short supply along the riparian corridors.
    In the Eastern Sierra, where we spend much of the summer, they are not native but have been introduced and cause problems there, too.
    In both cases, man is the bigger problem, both my moving into the beaver habitat or introducing it to a habitat that was in balance.

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  6. very interesting post and nice photos of the lodges and the beaver!

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  7. Lovely animal Gary, and you got some great pictures.
    I'd love to see one in the 'wild'.

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  8. Neat post Gary! Love the pic of the front view of the beaver :)

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  9. I am so jealous of your lovely wildlife Gary.
    Many thanks for sharing your superb images.

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  10. Wow, what a lucky guy you are!! Fantastic post Gary! I love beaver and was only able to see them once, in Canada in 2005... Love their construction and their attitude. Thanks for sharing that!

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  11. Great pics and informative too..your beaver pics, I just love, how lucky is that, too get that close..nice..

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  12. Im like you I have spent a lot of time hanging out around beaver dams and lodges but NEVER GOT a SHOT of a beaver..CONGRATS on getting yours and good ones too!!

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  13. That's a great series of photos and I'm glad you were able to get the photos of the beaver.

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  14. I was surprised to see just how big beavers are and the size of the trees they easily bring down. Nice to have a bird friend for the walk! I bet you keep a few seeds in your pocket too. These are great shots Gary!

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  15. Those Beavers are beautiful, great shots.

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  16. Nice post and photos. A very pretty place. Love the Wt Sparrow.

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  17. Great shots documenting the beaver and its habitat. Beavers are, controversially, being reintroduced here in the UK, where they once lived. Interesting to see how it goes.

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  18. Wow, great shots of the beaver..rare to see them out and about here.

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  19. Fascinating info and a cute little beaver! Wish there were more of them.

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  20. Really cool to see the lodge and the beavers too! Great post!

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  21. Informative post on the beavers Gary.
    The image of the sparrow is wonderful! I really like the light you captured and the background.

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  22. Fantastic entry, Gary.
    It's sad to hear that the number of Beavers are getting less but I am glad to see them through your photos:)
    Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful day.
    Yoshi

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  23. Fantastic! I've never seen a beaver in the wild, although I took some shots at a beaver dam in Patagonia. Great series!

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