Seeing Beavers doing this is a first for me. I was waiting in a cove area just before sunrise hoping a Great Blue Heron would arrive. I started noticing a couple of Beavers swimming around in the cove. The longer I waited the more Beavers showed up. I counted 6 Beavers total. They just kept swimming around and once in awhile they would stop and just sit. They kept this up for about an hour. The 2 Beavers in the photo above started swimming around each other and then they made contact for a few seconds and then went back to swimming around in the cove. The other strange part about this encounter was that the Beavers knew I was present and even came close to me a few times. I thought they were going to climb the bank to where I was.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Neat that they didnt mind you being there. You are a normal part of the environment there.
As always! Great shots, especially the 2nd and 3rd.
These shots are so great – they show the beavers’ fur and how the water just slicks right off it – I like the shot where the one on the right seems to be eye-balling both you Steve and his/her “opponent.” Quite an experience – lucky you and lucky us that you’ve shared your great photos… and one more comment – your new website – Arklahoma Wildlife is terrific – marvelous that we can see some favourites and re-visit them and some of your older shots that we may not have seen. Great stuff Steve.
Wonderful photos. I look forward to you blog everyday!
Love the photo capture of these beavers. Your great descriptive narrative helps us to get even a bigger picture of what you were actually able to see with all the other beavers that were present as well.
Nice shots, Steve. Thanks for sharing!
Ive been super busy lately and have not been able to check your site in a while. I think today’s shots are fantastic, im really glad I stopped by. Keep up the amazing work.
Looks like some sort of courtship to me, as opposed to sparring but then again I wouldn’t know! I’ve never been as close to them as you are, at any rate they are beautiful pic’s!
Q – Was there any bloodshed or just a few hugs & kisses? hehehe. Let me know what you think about what I see from these pic’s Steve. This is coming from one of your newest followers, ever since I found the pic’s of the Sparrow Hawk (that I was searching for) on your site! So just a note to say that you do wonderful work and although I don’t always post a comment, I do see the pic’s every day! Great job and thank you!
Thanks everyone for the great comments! Daniel, I am not sure what was going on with all of these Beavers (6) in one small area. The encounter with the 2 above beavers only lasted a few seconds and it was not violent at all.
As you probably know beavers live in family groups, sometimes in larger ponds they can include the parents plus two or three litters. The size of the pond and the amount of potential winter forage dictates how many get to stay! Still, despite being family members they still compete for position, often through play. Just like the rest of the natural world there are those that dominate and those that don’t.
Wonderful photographs, some of the best I’ve seen.
Bill;www.wildramblings.com
Bill, thanks for the Beaver education!
Steve,
I was great to meet and visit with you this morning at Wells Lake. Your pictures are incredible! I look forward to meeting you again.
Gary
Gary, it was great to me you also! I am glad you like my photos. Be sure to look for me at the Nature Center.
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