More from the Beaver Pond of the Vermilon River. A Post to Scenic Sunday.

Showing the Extent of the Pond.



Dam Channel




Close up of the Lodge




Not Quite finished




Another tree finished

This is Part 2 of the beaver pond tour. The first was posted on Wednesday and contains a lot of information on beaver. I'm not going to go through it again. If you want to re-read it, its just two posts back. But I'll tell you more about the pond and answer some of your questions. The first photo shows the magnitude of the pond and the stand of birch on the opposite side. I think I'm on the wrong shore. I'm on the abandoned RR right of way. You can see the gravel of the road bed in the top photo showing you the dam channel. Remember they dam the narrowest area. So the pond is sealed at my end. But the real stand of working material is on the other side. And its just what they like birch. As well, my side leaves them open to predators because they're away from the water.And predators are here. There are wolf and coyote tracks in the soft earth. They're probably looking for mice, voles and rabbits along the bank of the right of way, but a beaver would be nice. The two trees, both aspen, that the beaver have been at are on my side and show current pond activity. But something disturbed the beaver at work because the first tree is not finished. The second has all the branches sheared off for food and work material.

The close up of the lodge shows the use of mud and branches in the construction. You could walk on the lodge and on the beaver dam without any threat of going through.They build for permanence and I think they occupy a lodge for 10-12 years.

In answer to the frequent question did I see any beaver? No. The reason being I think I'm on the wrong side of the pond.

I could cross over the dam and come around towards the lodges that way, but the right of way is 9-10 feet high and the area beyond the dam is likely bog. See the tower at the back of the pond. These is an electrical  right of way there, and I could use it to gain access to the back of the lake. But you have to be careful there also, as the cleared land is filled with blueberry bushes that attract black bears, and the bears use it as a highway to raid the garbage of the campsites that are on the occupied lake much further over.But, I'm going to do that come summer because the ducks also stay on the other side of the pond, and I need some photos of them.

Now I've probably bored you all to to tears.

A Post to Scenic Sunday For more scenes click here:

A Beaver Pond of the Vermilon River-A post to Watery Wednesday # 122



Shows two lodges




Oldest lodge




The beaver dam is at the end of this channel.

This is a two part post, giving you a tour of the largest and most successful of the many beaver ponds of the Vermilon.I had toured this pond before, but that was in the summer. These photos were taken in mid- November before the snow came, which was incidentally very late this year. So its very cold. This one is the size of a small lake and contains two lodges as the photo shows. The older one is in the forefront. I know success is relative to something and the something is this: this pond did not dry up over the long, hot, dry summer. Part of this is accounted for by the dam the beaver have constructed at the end of the channel in photo 3(on your right); the other by the fact that it is likely spring fed. The dam is strong enough to cross, although you run the risk of bog land on the other side

A few Beaver Facts:
1) Canada, or North America for that matter, had no spices as early explores hoped, but men's fashion i.e. the beaver hat would create a struggle between two empires for control of the fur trade, the beaver was the center of that trade.
2) Beavers are workers,cutting down some 216 trees individually per year. Their favourites, aspen and birch, serve as food and construction materials.
3)Dams are built to ensure that the ponds will surface freeze only leaving open the deep areas for easy winter passage.
4) Beavers dam the narrowest area embedding a substructure of branches that the water fans out and built from there.
5) The lodge consists of four rooms-feeding, resting, fresh air, and two escape areas in the event predators gain access.
6) Beaver also build canals to transport all of the material they harvest.

For more info see http://www.hwww.ca/hww2.asp?id=82   Who's Who in the Hinterland.

A post to Watery Wednesday,for more sites see: http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

If you are following the tour of the pond, I'll post the other on Sunday at Scenic Sunday.

An Invitation from Boom & Me to A Tour Of A Vermilon River Beaver Pond.

What's He Up To Now?

I'll start the tour with the initial post on wednesday night (17th) at 7 p.m. EST, post on thursday night sametime, and friday night sametime. Saturday night I'll post photos of the animals. I timed it this way to give readers from S.E. Asia a chance to check the site on the weekend.