The Lack of Activity Has Been Gnawing at Me!

With three lodges on the pond, I've been anxious to see where the beavers would settle for the winter.  I knew they would soon begin working on trees and thought the location of their activity would be clue as to which lodge they would stock.  My bet was for the lodge near the dam and the culvert, because the drop in the pond due to the installation of the culvert protection cage, made it habitable again.

For the past three days, I have been walking around the pond trying to spot some fresh activity.  I was having no luck at all until yesterday. As I entered the trail, out of the corner of my eye I caught something different. The reason I couldn't find any activity for the past three days was because I was passing it before I started looking for it. 

Right at the head of the trail in the woods very near the beginning of the dam, is this Y-shaped tree.Not that the beavers can read, nor would they care if they did, but this tree is clearly in the conservation zone.  Humans can't disturb it, but the beaver can, but they aren't doing themselves any favors by destroying the signs that protect them.

I put my trail camera to see if I could catch the culprit and at 9:51 last night he showed up.  This video shows about a minute of the activity before the camera malfunctioned, probably because of my settings.

I changed the settings and put the camera back out to catch any activity tonight.  Normally, I would say that he had a few more nights of work, but this tree is dead at the top and can see that the center is hollow.  Tonight could be the night it goes down.  I moved the location of the camera, because it was in danger where it was.  I hope the beavers and I are on the same wavelength as to where it will fall. If either of us is wrong as to the direction, it could crush my camera or damage their dam.

I'll follow up when I know more, but now that you have just about recovered from the title pun, and are feeling safe, I'll leave you with the thought that tomorrow you may see another dam episode of Gnaw and Water!