Time: 22 March 2012, 06:40-07:45
Observations:
I arrived at White Memorial in the cool morning darkness and parked on Webster Road, southwest of Catlin Woods. I trekked through the woods, both wary and eager to see animal life that so often conceals itself from us. Aside from some gray squirrels scampering along the paths, I encountered no animal life. As I left the dense cover of the woods and followed a bend in the path that led out to the river, my surroundings opened up before me in the pale dawn light.
I reached the beaver lodge on Bantam River at 06:40 and as I walked along the ridge beside the beaver lodge, three beavers swam out, as if they were awaiting my arrival. They probably heard the grumbling and beeping of my camera as I turned it on. The beavers were initially very wary of me. Every time I got within 20 yards of them, they loudly slapped their tails and dove underwater. The beavers swam around together within 30 yards of the lodge for a few minutes before they went off in their own directions.
Beaver #1: I observed the beaver that remained closest to the lodge first. Luckily, I had a nice set of binoculars to watch the beaver closely, as the zoom on my camera was utterly ineffective. Beaver #1 swam around the lodge and went underwater a few times. This beaver caught my attention when it started making loud puckering sounds (audible 20 yards away). Looking through my binoculars, I could discern that the beaver was moving his mouth, but I couldn't determine the purpose of the sound (whether it was a kind of call or feeding sound). The beaver sometimes looked like it was bringing something up to its mouth with its paws, but no sticks were visible in its paws. Shortly after, the beaver swam underwater and resurfaced with a relatively small stick (1" diameter would be my guess, but it's hard to say) and started gnawing the end and also the bark. The beaver gnawed on the stick for about a minute before diving underwater in the direction of the lodge.
Beaver #2: Around 07:00, I turned my attention to one of the other beavers, slightly farther away from the lodge. Through my binoculars, I watched this beaver working on a branched stick. It was systematically chewing off the bark on each of the branches, revealing the green of the wood beneath. The beaver used both paws to hold the ends of the stick. This beaver circled within 10 yards of me, seemingly unperturbed by my presence. Perhaps this was because I had been relatively quiet for the past 20 minutes as I watched.
Beaver #3: After I left the second beaver, I wandered along the ridge, looking for the last beaver that had swum much farther downstream. I watched this beaver the longest (roughly from 07:10-07:45). This beaver and I did a little dance in which I would gradually approach, and it would slap its tail loudly and dive underwater. These tail slaps were much louder and more decisive than the earlier ones I had witnessed when all three beavers were together. I approached and the beaver warned me with a tail slap three times, but the beaver did not remain underwater for long, and it did not swim very far. I timed the beaver dives, and the longest this beaver was underwater (before it went back to the lodge) was 32 seconds.
The beaver swam back and forth across the stream and resurfaced several times carrying branches in its mouth. The beaver gradually made its way down the stream (at least 50 yards from the lodge), and I followed on land. I couldn't help thinking that the beaver was trying to draw me away from the lodge.
As I zoomed in on the beaver with my binoculars, I noticed that this beaver's head appeared to be redder in tone than the simple brown hue of the other beavers. I don't think that the beaver's head simply appeared redder because it was a bit lighter out (it was a cloudy morning, and the sun never really came out). I watched this beaver swim around and carry branches for roughly 30 minutes before it dove underwater and did not resurface again.
After following the third beaver downstream, I wandered back to the beaver lodge and saw no activity. On my walk back, I came across a stick gnawed at both ends by a beaver.
I sat in the silent dawn light by the lodge, waiting for further activity, but the beavers had retreated for the time being.
I glanced toward the boardwalk in the distance and saw two people out for an early morning run. My work was done for the morning, and I headed back to the car, excited that I had the opportunity to observe the morning activity of this beaver trio.
