Down at Water Level

We are blessed to have a beaver swamp across the road from our house.  Looking out our front windows, we can see the water and watch for wildlife.  Right from our living room, we have seen many birds - herons, ducks, and other water birds of various kinds, and in recent years, even an occasional bald eagle.  Besides birds, we have watched beavers, muskrats, and the more rare river otters. 

Looking down from our vantage point is often a good thing, like being able to see the white markings on the back of this northern harrier as he happened to be going by.

 It is wonderful to be able to look down on sights like that, but I also love to get right down on the water when I get a chance.  Last Saturday afternoon was one of those times.... so, come along with me in the kayak. 

 It was a glorious autumn day, and actually not one of the nicest ones we've had (it's been a wonderful fall here!).  The leaves were probably a little past prime since many had come off the trees in a recent rain storm.  Still... beautiful!

In the kayak, you can glide along almost silently except for the occasional paddle noise, to see who else is out in the swamp.

 This juvenile great blue heron was hungry and looking for lunch.

 I watched him for quite awhile and he finally took a stab!  If he came up with something, it was too small for me to see.  He flew to a different spot in the swamp and I went on to watch a pair of mallards before turning my kayak around.  

Heading back in the opposite direction, I saw the young heron again.  The pose in the next photo is not a real common one for a heron.  When you read about them, you often see the term "majestic" or "stately" - well, not exactly, in this photo at least!

 I searched a bit to see what the reason for this pose is, and of course, no one knows for sure (except the herons!) but it is probably for drying damp wings or warming in the sun.

Not the amphomorphic reason I read into it which was that this teenage heron was "rolling his eyes" at me.  And then, in this next photo, he sticks out his tongue!

Though he didn't make a sound, in the next photo, he seems to be ready to.  If you'd like to read more about great blue herons, click here for a very interesting page about them.  Or to listen to recording of the sounds they make, click here.

You can see how he'd be able to swallow a fairly large fish whole!

 Well, time to move on... for both the heron and us.

His wingspan of up to 6' looks really huge from down on this level!

As I slowly paddle toward the other end of the swamp, I see another heron (an adult) sitting on a hemlock branch.  There are also two kingfishers chasing each other around.  They don't seem too concerned about me, probably partly because I'm in the kayak but maybe more so because neither of them want to share the swamp with another kingfisher.

 They are extremely hard to photograph because they don't let me come close and because they are fast!  I watched them dive into the water a couple of times but there was no way I was going to be fast enough to catch that in a still photograph!  It is really cool to see them hover over the water, high up, for a few seconds before they plunge into the water for their prey!

Moving on to the far end of the swamp, here's another shot of a kingfisher on a dead limb in front of one of my favorite trees.  It's probably not brighter than the other trees in its' fall colors, but being alone in front of the darker hemlocks makes it seem so.

 In my next post, I'm planning to continue on with our kayaking afternoon and show you some more of the beautiful trees!

Close Encounter of the (Slightly) Unexpected Kind

This time of year (around Memorial Day) if I see a deer, I usually try to look for a fawn nearby.  So, when I saw a doe near the path to our swamp late yesterday afternoon, I decided that after dinner, I would check the area.   I didn't see a fawn -- (there could have been one but they can really hide!) but as I walked along the path, I saw something else pretty special.

Our beaver swamp has cycled over the years... we've had beavers (and a good beaver dam and lots of water) then the beavers have moved on and the area dries out a bit.  Then beavers move back in and repair the dam and on it goes.  This spring the water level has been pretty low and we weren't sure if we had any beavers.  Then my husband saw one, and I also had one slap its' tail at me when I was kayaking.  So we knew they were there. But they've been very low profile... not cutting trees and not working on the dam as "eager beavers" have in the past.  

Last evening, I saw several muskrats as usual.  Then, along came a beaver!  A muskrat (in the back) and the beaver (right in front of the muskrat) crossed paths in front of me.

 Muskrats can be kind of funny.  They will be swimming along merrily on their way, then they suddenly see you and make a quick turn and swim off in the opposite direction.  Beavers usually disappear pretty quickly once they see you, too.

Not this one!  It came swimming right over to towards me.
At first, I wondered if it could be an otter, because otters are curious and will swim towards a person to check them out.  We have had otters before in the swamp... and even on land, like this one I happened to catch in photo a few years ago.

 It quickly became apparent that what I was seeing was a beaver though, by the way it swam.  (Muskrats are smaller and their tails go from side to side.  Otters undulate thru the water, beavers swim flat on the water, but you usually can't see their tails like muskrats.) 

This beaver came right over to near where I was standing, and started posing for photos.!

"Want to learn why I have orange teeth?  Click here."

At first I stayed still, but it really didn't seem to care that I was there.  I moved around a bit for some better photos.  

"This is my best side... photograph me from this angle, please!"

It swam around in circles a couple of times, and slapped its' tail at me twice.

"Are you still there?"

 But for the most part, it just watched me.  I guess... since I've read that beavers have very poor eyesight!  They are supposed to have much better hearing and sense of smell.  Click on this link to a very interesting website about beavers if you'd like to learn more about them.

Maybe it has a lodge along the bank under this pile of brush, but usually they have a home back farther in the swamp.  At least the beavers in the past have.  I can't get back to that area now with the kayak, so it's hard to say.  

This is how close I was standing while I was watching:

Finally, the beaver even seemed to get tired of watching me and was just lazily floating, with its' tail visible.

"Here I am pretending to be the Loch Ness Monster!"

Okay, Mr. or Mrs. Beaver, good night!