Overwintering Beaver family At Puffer Pond

A few friends and I were exploring Puffer Pond, a beaver pond inside of Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge on January 22nd. The wetland had finally frozen over, after several nights of sub-30 degree temperatures. We walked for about 20 minutes in one direction, towards some vegetation along the bank of the other side of the pond. We came across a trio of beaver lodges, probably all belonging to the same pair. The lodge that was closest to the shore had an unfrozen strip, where the beavers come up for air, and feed. 

Beavers do not hibernate, instead relying on certain breathing holes, and their canals to continue eating plant matter all winter long.

We noticed 2 beavers, sitting on the ice, feeding. They did not seem bothered by us at all, and only glanced at us every few minutes. We could hear the murmur of beaver kits inside the lodge. I didn't have my camera, so all I could do was watch their activity and come back the following day.

I came back alone, with my camera, and more layers. When I approached the little canal, There was one beaver out on the ice...

I heard a splash. One of the kits was out, and was now swimming down it's canal, towards the lodge, with its head perked up, above the water to keep an eye on me. I lied on my stomach on the ice, to keep my profile low, so that the kit would feel comfortable passing me...

                                                  ...The adult then followed it to the lodge...

I went to the lodge, and noticed new tracks. An otter. I also noticed otter scat, containing fish scales, and more otter tracks around the pond.

 

I checked the canal again, and surprisingly, an adult was back on the ice, hauling its fat body onto the ice...

                                The other adult came cruising down the canal to join its mate. It replaced the other adult, and started scratching itself.

 

                         It's mate surfaced a few feet up the canal, and got back up onto the ice...

At this point, I had been shooting for about 45 minutes. The beavers were getting used to my presence, and allowed me to get closer than about 10 feet away. I inchwormed closer and closer to the section of the canal that the pair was feeding out of. One adult (to my left) seemed to be munching on some cattail, with only its head protruding out of the water, onto the ice. Clearly, it was standing up, so the water must have been about 2 feet deep in this section. A relief for me, who was paranoid about falling through the ice.

The beaver to my right was demolishing a lily pad, and had a small clump of other aquatic plants stashed under its belly...

...This beaver looked bigger than the other one, and I'm guessing that it was the female. By this point, it showed no signs of fear, so I inches up another few feet. This allowed me to REALLY capture the detail in her face.

While I was on my belly, I took advantage of the opportunity to take some video:

By this point, my battery was about to die, since video drains my camera battery super fast. I decided to call it a day, after my leg took a cold plunge through the ice.