Location: White Memorial Foundation, Bantam River
Time: 6 April 2012, 18:55-19:50
Observations:
I visited the beaver lodge on Bantam River a second time two weeks later. I arrived at White Memorial as the sun was starting to set, hoping to see more beaver activity and perhaps different behavior given the time of day. The area around the lodge looked relatively unchanged from my last visit.
When I arrived at the beaver lodge, I did not immediately see any beavers out on the river, so I sat on the ridge near the lodge and listened for any activity inside. I heard puckering and twittering sounds coming from the lodge, indicating that at least one beaver was inside. I walked around to the other side of the beaver lodge, climbing through overgrown grass and soggy substrate close to the bank of the river. I was able to see the lodge from a new angle and noticed for the first time that the beavers had built the lodge close to a culvert that ran under the ridge of the pedestrian path. The culvert lead to another flooded area, which led me to believe that the beavers may use the culvert as a tunnel to go from one watery area to the other.
After waiting ten minutes for beavers to emerge, I made my way back up to the pedestrian ridge and started to wander downstream. As I walked, I spotted a beaver head poking out of the water in the distance beyond the bend of the river. Through my binoculars, I watched this beaver swim back and forth farther downstream.
All of a sudden, I heard a loud kerplunking splash and saw two beaver swimming out from the lodge. Seconds after they emerged from the lodge, they slapped their tails in unison and dove underwater. The synchronization was impressive, and I wish I could have caught it on camera.
By now, it was 19:15, and three beavers were out swimming around. The first one I spotted was still far downstream, but the other two remained somewhat close to the lodge (within 30 yards) for a while. They swam back and forth, diving underwater for sticks and swimming with sticks in their mouths.
After about five minutes, one of the beavers climbed ashore and started gnawing on some vegetation and sticks on the edge of the bank. The other beaver continued downstream and also climbed out to feed on the shore. These two beavers gradually made their way downstream, climbing up on the bank to feed for a few minutes at a time and then diving back into the water to meander further downstream.
Around 19:30, one of the beavers continued downstream almost out of sight and joined the other beaver that had been downstream from the start. The third beaver remained on the bank, and once this beaver was alone, it seemed to become more attentive to me. It swam to within 5 yards of me, but did not slap its tail, as I was still and silent.
At 19:40, the two beavers from downstream started heading back toward me. At this point, the beaver that had remained near me was again up on the bank. One of the beavers swam by the one on the bank, and the beaver on the bank paid it little attention. However, when the other beaver from downstream swam by, the beaver on the bank dove into the water and circled around the other beaver, seemingly intending to meet it.
These two beavers swam back and forth in the water for a few minutes and then they did something fascinating: one swam up to the other, and they started circling each other in the water, making soft honking sounds. I had no idea the message meant, but they certainly seemed to be communicating with each other. They then swam closer to the lodge.
At this point (19:50), the sky was mostly dark with a faint rim of light at the edge of the tree tops. I was hesitant to leave the beavers, as they were all still active in the water, but it was growing harder to see them. I left the beavers in the obscure light and headed for the dense, dark woods.