Week 30: Classic Canadian Castor

an animal

The animal assignment was supposed to be for when I am in the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota and will be seeing bison and mountain goats and prairie dogs and other creatures I don't see on a regular basis.  The problem is that I left it until the last minute again and I didn't have the time or energy to do the topic that was actually listed for this week.  What I did have the time and energy for at 7:30 on Saturday evening was a quick trip to Whitefish Island where I had a lovely conversation with a visitor from out of town about how lucky we are to have this amazing place in the middle of our downtown.

It was an hour from sunset so I thought I might just see the beavers being active.  I walked around the far island first and I was overwhelmed by the bird song...there were thousands of chirping birds in the trees and the sound was so loud and beautiful.  I don't know what species was making the cacophony.  When I pointed my camera at the trees, all I saw were small black and grey birds.  Whatever they were, I appreciated the evening song.  When I came around to the boardwalk, I noticed a family looking intently into the pond and an older couple with a big camera pointed at the pond.  I found that I was in luck with the beavers.  There were at least 10 or 12 out there in the different parts of the pond eating or doing what beavers do.  The best though, was a young boy (who stayed behind when his family moved on - no worries, dad came back later) who had an eagle eye and ear and kept pointing out where the most active animal was.  

And to think I was going to stay on the couch!

This beaver was happy to munch right underneath us as we stood leaning over the railing expressing our awe quietly.  I know the photo looks all cock-eyed...I couldn't get my camera angled correctly and still avoid the wood of the boardwalk.

This part of the island was the noisiest.  I like to think the birds were telling me about what I might find in that tunnel up ahead.

The evening light was so pretty.

We haven't seen the bridge for a while (a couple of weeks anyway).

This little bird was in another noisy area but the birdsong here came from a variety of birds.

I love cattails.

Oh, yet another view of our bridge.

I wish I had more light to do what I really wanted with this shot...but I guess if I had more light, that wouldn't be the setting sun in behind the flowers.

Sunset light on a lovely duck.

Let's hope I stop procrastinating this week and put a little more effort into this project.