Signs of Active Beavers
If beavers have bank dens on rivers that remain open all winter, they are not subjected to the confines of a dark, damp lodge for several months. They have access to fresh food year round, and aren’t limited to the pile of aging branches under the ice that they stored last fall near their lodge. On the other hand, beavers that do live in ponds that freeze over often can find an opening in the ice if there’s a big enough January or February thaw. In either case, signs of their activity on land can be found.
What amazes me is the way they limb and then cut logs after felling a tree. They can move really big logs – 5 or 6 inches in diameter. Each day when I go by, mor3e of the tree is missing and at last there is nothing but the stump. Those fellas are strong!!
February 15, 2013 at 12:59 pm
Although we have no beaver on Martha’s Vineyard, I occasionally pick up driftwood that is obviously beaver-chewed. My hypothesis is that these chewed pieces float out the Connecticut and Merrimac Rivers, possible other rivers as well, and eventually find their floaty way to our shores. The pieces come perhaps from dams that have gotten busted up for some reason or other.
February 15, 2013 at 7:43 pm