4. Looking for Beavers

I'm standing by a very large
beaver-girdled cottonwood tree.

Continuing the series on Beavers …

Sunday afternoon (12/5) in 27-degree weather my friend Gordon and I went tromping through the woods in Sterling Heights, MI looking for beavers. We saw many beaver-gnawed stumps and a dozen very large cottonwood trees that the beavers had girdled. Cottonwoods are beaver favorites.

Some of the large ones exceeded 2 feet in diameter, like the one at the right. Some of the large trees had been girdled several years ago, but some, like the one in the picture, had been freshly girdled this fall. I don’t know why beavers abandon work on trees, but we saw many unfinished logging projects.

We saw many clean-as-a-whistle branches that beavers had stripped of their bark. Two large cottonwood trees had fallen across the river. Beavers had stripped and eaten the bark leaving the trees as white bridges spanning the river.

The Clinton River is in the background of the picture. At one point along the river Gordon showed me a freshly cut food pile of branches that beavers had built up this fall for use in the winter. He has seen beavers around it recently. We sat on a log in the dark for half an hour, but no beavers showed themselves tonight.

We thought the beaver den was in the river bank under our feet, but we weren’t able to confirm it. Often beavers have a small exit/vent hole for the den covered with sticks. We searched with flashlights but didn’t see it. Maybe we’ll have better success another night.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Read the prequels in this series of blog posts on Beavers:
1. Beavers – Intro
2. Beavers in Troy
3. Busy Beavers

Read the sequel:
5. Beavers and Intelligent Design

Read my full discussion of beavers in three recent newspaper articles:
2010.09 Busy Beavers
2010.10 Beaver Life
2010.11 Beaver Benefits

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:4)
Sunday December 5, 2010 A.D.

Read my December 2010 Bible-Science column
World’s Most Titled Man.

But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind? (Job 12:7-10)