Death of a Beaver

Wed. 25 March:  Mill Pond

Skies heralding warmer weather

Nature is cruel. But in this case, it was not obvious that this beaver had died at the hands of nature.  A few days previously, one of my hiking colleagues had walked this trail and had found the animal dead beside the frozen lake, with a gash across its neck.  The indication was that perhaps it had been surprised by a speeding snowmobile and had been run over.  Since that time, nature had taken its course, and a predator had dragged its body across the ice and torn it apart. 

It was a sad sight, as less than a month ago,  we had hiked here, and had seen the clear evidence of beavers at play.  There was a hole in the ice and tracks of beavers up on the lake.  A passing snowmobiler had shared with us that he would see the beavers every day out on the ice.  Now the scene was silent.  The access hole had frozen up, and the dead beaver lay out on the lake.

But this was not a day to feel sad for too long!  Finally, this felt like the first day of Spring.  There were eighteen of us enjoying the warm sunshine as we made a clockwise circuit of the Mill Pond trails.  Stopping at The Point, we looked out across the small lake, where the ice had melted along the route of a snowmobile, then had refrozen.  Very soon it would start to melt one final time.

We had hoped to see the first birds returning to the woods after this long, cold winter.  Although we were perhaps just a few days too early for that, we did see a porcupine high up a tree, looking very relaxed. 

With this warm sun in our faces, even the untimely end to a beaver’s life could not spoil the happy thought that this winter was finally over – and now we were looking forward to the much anticipated maple syrup hike next weekend.

Note:  single-click on the first picture above to scroll through the photos separately

Statistics:

Total Distance:     4.8 km (hike)

Height Gain:         Say 80 ft.

Time on Trail:       1 hr. 48 mins.

Start:                    10.05 am

Ret. to cars:         11.53 am

Temp:                   Minus 1C rising to +5C

Weather:              Sunny, no  wind

This may have originally been a bear scratching, but now looks like owls

And this one a fish?

Perfect marriage of two trees

At The Point on Mill Pond

Porcupine high up a tree

An undulating trail

There were eighteen of us today

Our hike leader shares information on the trail system

Site of the carnage

The dead beaver, which once happily played here

Its last meal beside the hole leading to its home under the ice

Informative trail maps guide us around Mill Pond

Keeping an eye out for arriving birds