Johnny Beaver at the Kingston, Ontario Inner Harbour

Herewith is an intimate look at beavers placidly wintering in the inner harbour of Kingston, Ontario on 22 February to 3 March, 2021.

Contrary to widespread belief, beavers do not hibernate. Although they may be less active, they continue to eat and if necessary build throughout the winter.

Here, Johnny and his partner are cautiously emerging from their urban-style lodge, which they share with muskrats in a well-documented cohabitation behavior. Beavers will not build damns if they do not have to, such as is the case for those featured herein.

Beavers groom frequently to remove debris from their coat and to waterproof it with oil from glands, a live-or-die ritual especially in the cold winter months.

Beavers have poor eyesight. They rely on their acute sense of smell and hearing to investigate their surroundings for signs of danger prior to venturing away from the safety of their den.

Beavers go on frequent excursions into nearby woodlands walking through thick and thin to reach their food sources. They are strictly herbivores. They consume fallen wood sticks and freshly cut fine twigs, often on-site.

Using their ever-growing and sharpened incisors aided by a powerful jaws, beavers can cut shrubs and tree members with amazing ease. Harvesting large cuts may at times yield comical results. Such harvests are often dragged to and/or inside the den for immediate consumption or stowing.

The beaver’s scaly tail is his most recognized feature. It is used as a rudder when swimming and to sound alarms to other beavers when sensing danger. The tail stores fat for the winter months. Contrary to fictitious belief, they do not use their tails to carry mud or pack it down.

Beavers are semiaquatic rodents with large webbed hind feet that are ideal for swimming. During the winter, they will dive under the ice to dig up aquatic plants and waterlogged wood and bring the materials up onto the ice surface or to shore for consumption.

Beavers hand-like front paws allow them to manipulate objects with great dexterity. They seem to have methods to eating twigs and the cambium (soft new growth close to the surface) of larger pieces of wood. Their chewing sounds often give away their location.

Natives of America greatly respected beavers, calling them “Little People” as they too have the ability to greatly alter their habitats to suit their own needs. Beavers have been ecosystem engineers for more than 10 millions years and it may be in our best interest to let them create and maintain wetlands that sustain biodiversity.

Video footage included in this video were by and large captured with long lenses with the outmost respect for the beavers’ well-being and safety. The close proximity shots were from the beavers voluntarily approaching my position which at times required mine backing off in order to maintain lens focus on the subjects.

 

Video Footage & Post-Production by Réjean Lemay

©2021 Réjean Lemay, all rights reserved (except for music listed below)

 

All Music from YouTube Library (in chronological order)

When Johnny Comes Marching Home by Air Force Band of Liberty

Whispering Stream by E's Jammy Jams

Dark Fog by Kevin MacLeod licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1... Artist: incompetech.com/, Kevin MacLeod

Fresh Fallen Snow by Chris Haugen

 

Done