While on walks in Maine, I frequently come across fresh evidence of beaver activity. However, the beavers themselves are more elusive. Beaver ponds seem like the obvious places to look for beavers, so each time I am near one, I scan the water...
A beaver pond with its telltale drowned trees.
... and sometimes even spot a beaver-shaped object... only to realize a moment later that it is only a rock or a log. The beavers' lodges are easy enough to find, but never appear to be the sites of much activity.
A beaver lodge in the beaver pond.
On this particular occasion, after satisfying myself that there was no beaver in the pond or by the beaver lodge, I started photographing some insects and a frog at the edge of the pond.
A frog by the side of the beaver pond.
Then, when I looked up again, a movement in the water caught my eye. To my great surprise, it was a beaver!
A beaver!
The beaver was swimming just a few feet from where I was standing at the edge of the pond. I was startled by it, and it may also have been startled by me, since it made a large "plop" with its tail and dove underwater. Happily for me, though, the beaver soon resurfaced and started swimming back and forth across the pond for several minutes.
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