This was a little bit of a surprise as I visit this pond frequently but this is the first time I have ever seen a beaver. There are no signs of a traditional lodge / dam but I do know they can sometimes burrow under the banks of a body of water.

As I walked along in the pre-dawn hours, I saw ripples in the calm water and figured there might be something of interest. Sure enough, a beaver was there but it soon departed the area with a couple slaps of its tail to let me know it didn’t appreciate me intruding on its morning.

However, I spotted a second beaver and it was far less skittish. There was very minimal light but I managed some decent captures of it. It seemed to be gnawing on a stick which was kind of fun to see.

For the shutterbugs interested, this was taken with my usual Canon EOS R5 and RF 100-500 at 500mm but also notably, at ISO 12800. The images were quite grainy despite my best efforts. I ran it through Topaz Labs PhotoAI and am pretty impressed with the results given the conditions.

Certainly, beavers are pretty common creatures but not one that I have had many opportunities to photograph. This past weekend, a couple of them made an appearance in this canyon southwest of Denver.

One was busy gnawing on a small tree it had cut down and pulled to the river. The other was quite content to just swim around in a calm part of the river.

The American beaver is the largest rodent in the United States, reaching 2 to 3 feet in length not counting their tail. One interesting tidbit about them is that their teeth are constantly growing, thus necessitating their constant chewing to keep them from growing too long.

While quite common, Beavers are a form of wildlife not often seen. They prefer to stay out of sight and are shy around people. On this morning last week though, three of them were quite busy along the South Platte River southwest of Denver, Colorado. They continually made trips from their lodges to the sides of the river where they grabbed sticks and hauled them back home. It was well shaded and I didn’t have quite enough lens to get good close-ups but it was fun to see them, something I have only done a few times.