Beaver Colony

With the warming temperatures our resident beavers came out from their winter home beneath the ice of the Gooseberry River. I stopped to check on them after work one evening. Almost the whole colony was out and about enjoying the spring like weather. One of the larger adults came up the hill to get a birch tree to re-supply the food pile. He didn’t care that I was only 15 feet from him with my camera. His goal was food. I suppose after eating soggy bark for five months some new birch bark would be pretty tasty.

It still amazes me how fast the beaver can make chips fly when it cuts down a tree. I would not want to get bit by a beaver, but that is just what the mom is doing to the kits right now. This is the time of year she is ready to give birth. She chases the kits away from home to make room for the new young ones. The ones that don’t leave get bit. A friend of mine that traps beaver would catch some that had holes bit right through their feet and pieces missing from their hide. It seems cruel but a lodge can only provide for so many. This week one of last years kits was wandering around the campground appearing kind of lost. I’m sure it was looking for a new stream or pond.