Beavers 2

Tree cutting near the rest area continued till the end of November

November 4: Nothing was left of the left tree trunk from pictures No. 4 and 5 on the previous page, except for a row of whitish chip piles marking where that tree was previously lying. (Beavers try to gnaw at the trees so that the trees fall towards the water - they do not like to work far from water into which they can hide quickly in case of danger from coyotes, wolves, and even bears and perhaps other predators.)

November 4: Nothing was left of the left tree trunk from pictures No. 4 and 5 on the previous page, except for a row of whitish chip piles marking where that tree was previously lying. (Beavers try to gnaw at the trees so that the trees fall towards the water - they do not like to work far from water into which they can hide quickly in case of danger from coyotes, wolves, and even bears and perhaps other predators.)

	November 5: And during another 24 hours also the remaining tree trunk from the previous picture disappeared!

After that, nothing seemed to be going in this place. Only on November 10, I found there the remains of two more aspen trees, that already had been processed to a large extent as indicated by the new piles of white chips.

	And a few dozen meters farther to the south more felled trees, including one smaller oak tree. (Nov. 10)

Then on November 12 everything was covered by a thin layer of snow. This picture shows the same place as the one two pictures up.

	November 17: But beavers continued to visit this place at night as can be seen from their tracks in the snow on the trail that has appeared on the previous page (4th picture from the top).

November 26: They gradually removed all the trees from the preceding pictures, and after that cut a few new ones.

	And before the real beginning of winter, the beavers managed to haul away also most of these newly cut trees. By Dec. 3 all of the trees disappeared, except for the frontmost one in the picture on the left (taken also on Nov. 26), which remained there over the winter. The snow of Nov. 12 melted completely after a few days. Then some new snow arrived on Dec. 5, which disappeared once again quite fast. Only the snow that arrived on Dec. 17 was soon followed by real winter temperatures, and will stay here till the spring. In the beginning of December, I counted in this little grove on the slope below the rest area more than 50 fresh beaver-gnawed stumps!

And before the real beginning of winter, the beavers managed to haul away also most of these newly cut trees. By Dec. 3 all of the trees disappeared, except for the frontmost one in the picture on the left (taken also on Nov. 26), which remained there over the winter.
The snow of Nov. 12 melted completely after a few days. Then some new snow arrived on Dec. 5, which disappeared once again quite fast. Only the snow that arrived on Dec. 17 was soon followed by real winter temperatures, and will stay here till the spring.

In the beginning of December, I counted in this little grove on the slope below the rest area more than 50 fresh beaver-gnawed stumps!