The Beaver Are Back

We had an interesting couple of days out on our marsh.  The water is going down, and it must be making a lot of good eating for the great blue herons and the green herons.  If you look out at any given time, you can see at least four or five standing perfectly still waiting for an unsuspecting frog or fish.

Blue Heron standing perfectly still.

Green Heron eating a frog.

If you look carefully there are three herons in this small area.

If you watch long enough in the evening and listen, you will hear a squawk-like quack.  You will see a heron fly a few feet and then see a beaver in the water nearby.  The beaver must be scaring the herons by getting too close.  We had a pair of beaver two years ago.  They built a lodge and gathered willow branches. They laid them across the water, and they ate them all winter.  Then in the spring, we were flooded.  The beaver were forced out of their home, and they had to lay on top of the lodge.  Soon they gave up and left the area. I wrote a little about them in another blog post.  Our Beaver Lodge I know some of you do not like the beaver at all.  They can destroy good trees and property, but in our situation they don't bother anyone or anything.  Last year we had an extreme drought.  It was totally opposite from the year before.  Of course, no beaver showed up because we only had a tiny little stream.  Well, this year a pair is back again.  They are so busy gathering branches and working like busy beavers.  They are using the same lodge the other pair used.  It will be interesting to see if they are able to stay this year.

Here is one of the beaver dragging branches through the water.