On December 10 2009 - one of a series of below freezing days - I noticed from a distance a whole area near the pond where a lot of sapling trees had been cut down. I assumed some kind of vandalism at first. Here's what it looked like:

I went closer to investigate, and saw from they way they were cut down that it was the work of beavers.




I then realized they were storing sticks in the water for food (they seem to eat the bark). So they had come a short distance onto land, and taken down all these young trees, and cut them up, and dragged them down into the water. This way they had a ready supply in case of snow or in case the pond froze over hard. There was about 2 cm of ice on the pond that day. So here's their food storage:

And a closer look:

The next picture shows where the Beaver(s?) broke the ice from underwater in order to get out on shore:


At another spot they had used the ice surface to get at a tree and chop it down.



That same day I also found the remains of a Beaver. You can see the tail at the top of the picture on the right, and the teeth down at the bottom just a little to the right of center. We know a young beaver died this summer, so the number of them still in the pond is uncertain. Clearly, from the newly cut down trees, there is at least one left.


















I will finish with a couple of  pictures of the Beaver dam (taken at different times of the year):