I had last seen the beaver on August 9th, and thought it had now gone. But, it appeared again last evening (Aug. 14th). These views are unusual to see.
The beaver swam by towing a long branch of leaves.
It went to a delapidated dock, presumably as a place to temporarily live.
It began to eat the leaves near the shore. Beavers are herbivores, but it seems to just eat the leaves. The leaves appear to be willow, one of its favourites.
It eats the willow leaves outside the dock where it has greater room.
Alistair…a busy beaver…
Greetings Alistair, from Smithers BC where we now live. Enjoying all of your posts more than ever, especially since your images always spark an extra dash of sweet homesickness for the Kootenays. Thank you!
Thanks again for bringing ’s national animal (?) to light. They should be known for much more than the fur trade. They should be known first n foremost for creating micro hydro systems that provide environmental fire protection, increased habitat biodiversity, higher sustained water table, more water for farmers and ranchers (in drier areas especially), their damns slow the current and hold back sediments that would otherwise go into the lake and they provide spawning habitat for Kokanee. If you think they are a nuisance, wire your trees, use dam levelers, cages for culverts and micro fish ladders for Kokanee. Kokanee can work their way around a beaver dam, sometimes through one, with as little as a few small pools at the bank. I’ve done it for them with on-site river rock in as little as 30 minutes. They only need a few pools no bigger they a foot in diameter. Bring back beavers. I don’t claim it’s easy or without maintenance. I do say it’s better with them than w/o them. Sub-quality alternatives are so-called dam analogs. They are better than nothing and there are hundreds on PNW salmon streams. Very few in B.C. I hope B.C. will catch up. If yer curious research beavers and Kokanee or dam analogs. Fascinating stuff.