Charlie Fineran’s photo of the week is a real busy beaver.

The photo of the week is a beaver seated in the reeds alongside its beaver pond, PREENING itself!

We have all heard the saying, ‘Busy as a Beaver.’ The most common vision for most would be beavers BUILDING a dam or lodge, carefully placing branches and other articles and then sealing the same with mud during this construction process!  I would like to add two additional ‘chores’ that are both work-intensive and time-consuming! 

Beavers also spend time FORAGING. They actually go some distance away from the pond looking for large, standing trees, which they will then gnaw on, doing this in periodic visits, until the tree either falls under its own weakness or is blown over by a strong wind.  Once the tree is down, now the trimming of leafy branches begins, along with the dragging of those branches back to wherever it is to be used, for building or for food storage.  Branches for food are carefully taken into the lodge and stored under the waterline, which preserves freshness.  I was quite impressed by the series of beaver trails from ‘cutting zones.’  These trails are places where smaller trees are located. These can be felled in one visit and are then dragged back to the pond. These trails ease the resistance of dragging branches through underbrush.  When a cutting zone has been cleared out, the beavers create another zone, and then another trail would be formed, created by path of least resistance and continuous usage. 

Our Photo of the Week depicts PREENING, the third chore of a beaver! Preening is extremely important. Combing its fur with two split nails on its hind foot, the beaver then applies castoreum, an oily secretion from scent glands located near the anus.  This preening process ensures warmth and waterproofs the beaver.

The Story of the Trip Leading to the Photo of the Week:

I am visiting Coventry Pond, just outside of Millbrook Village in the DWGNRA (Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area). There is a small pond there created by two earthen dams on each end.  It has a large beaver lodge on a tiny island in the center of the pond.  There are also two beaver ponds adjacent to the larger pond.  Walking along the smaller beaver pond, I hear a rustling and a splash!! Looking into the pond, I see a beaver swimming away from shore and then another beaver farther out in the pond! NUTS!! How could I miss something so close? I was about twenty feet away from the beaver on shore!! I am now standing, taking photos of the two beavers swimming, when suddenly the beaver returns and climbs back onshore into the reeds. I am still standing there!!! Let the fun begin!!! 

I am trying to keep STILL & QUIET. The wind is blowing my plastic lens cover into the camera, making a noise. My ski pole, wrapped around my wrist, is blowing in the wind. And I am trying to get a clear photo of this animal through a lot of reeds!! To add to this scene, the other poor beaver is swimming back and forth, slapping his tail in the water and diving trying to warn his friend that I am standing there!!! I say ‘POOR BEAVER,’ this guy is probably scratching his head in disbelief. Here he is doing everything by the “BEAVER BOOK,” giving slapping tail alerts, swimming frantically back and forth, sending all sorts of alerts, and what is his partner doing? Checking on her hair, tail, and anything else that needs preening!! The tail slapping and diving ended after about three attempts; he must have given up, but he did keep swimming back and forth and making approaches towards us before turning away.

I was there about twenty minutes and was still looking at the back of a beaver! I had to try to work my way closer to the shoreline to get a better look. By moving slowly and waiting for wind gusts for some noise cover, I did manage to go from a six o’clock to a nine o’clock position! I can’t believe this animal didn’t see me or get my scent; I was upwind from it. I got some close up photos! Okay, now I am going to get moving.  I had the feeling this animal knew I was there, now, as I was going to do a little experiment. I would make some obvious noise and then move away.

“Hey beaver,” I said about ten times and then started slowly moving away. It never moved, nor did it stop what it was doing!!  I had to climb over a fallen tree and then turned around to take a photo, now about forty feet away, when suddenly a wild turkey gobbled and took off (about 10 feet from me!). I jumped about five feet in the air and the beaver was also startled and went into the pond!! When I worked my way back to the dam, I noticed that the beaver had gone back to the same place along the shoreline!

Please visit my Flickr site for more of this story and more photos!

Yours in Open Space, Charlie Fineran