Beaver

Shelley suggested we get our kayaks out on the river since it was a nice day. We made it almost to the weir when I saw something sitting on a log at the edge of the water. It was a beaver. WRSOS had released a juvenile beaver near here this morning (after treating it) so I assume it was the same one. Hopefully it manages to reconnect with its family.



Photographing from a kayak can work really well because you can often approach closer and get a better angle. But it can also be extremely frustrating, especially in moving water. When you take your hands off the paddle to get the camera out and take photos, you start drifting and often turning. You either drift away or you drift too close. And often by the time you finish futzing around the bird or animal is long gone. This beaver didn't seem too worried about me, maybe because of its recent contact with humans, or because it was a juvenile. But still, by the time I got my camera out of the dry bag, and managed to jam my kayak between a couple of rocks, it slid into the water and swam away. I figured that was the last I'd see of it, but as I prepared to paddle away it returned and climbed out onto the same log.



I tried to take a few shots but the kayak was rocking and it was impossible to hold the long telephoto (800mm equivalent) steady. To heck with it, I got out of the kayak, pulled it up on shore and shot from the land. Luckily I was out of sight behind some boulders most of the time. The other problem was that I was shooting straight into the sun. On the shore I managed to maneuver around to where I had a slightly better angle.



I even thought to shoot a little video. It seemed obsessed with cleaning its fur. Hopefully that's not a symptom of a problem.



It's always nice to see the beavers. I see lots of signs of their activity (trees cut down) but not the beavers themselves usually. They are beautiful unique creatures but often persecuted. The city traps them and kills them because they are a "nuisance". We have such little tolerance for anything besides human infestation.