Beavers on Cue

Friday evening was cool, cloudy, and wet - not the best weather to tour tourism folks squired by Ashley Kalk from the Town. We met about 6:15 PM and walked the main beaver pond and the upstream loop. At the start I mentioned that beaver sightings were pretty much guaranteed in the late evening, but we might be a little early for today. As we only had 20 minutes for the tour I hoped at least one would be out and about.

Sure enough, a yearling was swimming in the main pond between the lodge and the dam. One woman said that was the first beaver she had ever seen in her life. She was thrilled. We watched for a few minutes and then quickly walked the upstream loop, where we encountered an adult. This beaver swam right alongside us, came out of the water to browse willow leaves, and clipped a willow to continue it's supper in shallow water beside the dam. All of this was less than 10 meters from 8 excited people.

Our last stop was at the observation tower, where 4 beavers were active in the waters below. One climbed up on the lodge with a load of mud. Needless to say, the duration of the tour got extended a bit by all the beaver watching.