Beaver heading home
Maine
Springtime at the plantation bog
At the bog to the east of the Smithfield Plantation conservation land, the bog marsh is slowly getting to springtime. The great drought of 2016 is over; let us make the bog great again ….
Springtime at the Noname
The Spring season has been moving slowly over at the Noname pond.
Eastern phoebe
While wandering along the far bog and waiting for activity near the beaver’s den, we spotted this likely phoebe.
Tail slap!
A beaver sends me a message. It is as loud as it looks.
Beavers in the far bog 2
The beavers would have stayed in their den for most of the winter. They likely have caches of young tree branches, bark, and twigs at the bottom of the bog around the den and under the ice.
The ice cover quickly disappeared over the past two weeks and I expect to see evidence of foraging in the woods surrounding the bog now that it is Spring.
Beavers in the far bog
After three days staking out the beaver den in the far bog, we spotted the two beaver inhabitants patrolling around the den. Here is beaver1.
Wood duck following
The other half of the pair of wood ducks spotted on Saturday. The edge of the beaver den is at right foreground. We have not seen any beavers this Spring so far but we have heard several loud tail slaps when we approached during mid-week. There are no obvious fresh tree cuttings around but we think there are beavers still here.
Wood duck in the bushes
I visited the far bog to check out the beaver den yesterday during mid-afternoon. I did not have high hopes of a beaver sighting but thought I could spot some ducks, perhaps Mallards or the more exciting wood ducks. It was not even five minutes into my stakeout when a pair of wood ducks paddled past the beaver den. Here an adult female calmly moves through the thicket beyond the den.
Ducks arrive at the far bog
An unruly flight of wood ducks repeatedly cruised over the bog this afternoon. Perhaps they were dismayed by the remaining snow and ice. Didn’t they enjoy the 60F temperature? Maybe these boys of Spring were looking for some ladies?
john's f-stop 