Beaver Wetland Walk

© Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 66707961 - Yellow-rumped Warbler; Walton County, Georgia. January 24, 2018.

Wednesday, 7:42 AM - at first light on the main water retention pond:

• 17 Redhead ducks
• 2 Canada Geese on the water
• 1 Great Blue Heron by the bank
• 13 Canada Geese fly overhead in V-formation

Lunchtime - I pull on the large black rubber boots that my daughter Amanda bought for me. What used to be a small, usually dry overflow creek from the main pond has now turned into some fairly wide wetlands. Trekking down through the wet, muddy standing water I find several large beaver dams now transect the area. I turn on a GPS iPHone app to try and sketch out a map.

There are five impressively long and somewhat high dams. It is amazing how much mud, leaves, sticks and branches are all pressed together to build these levee walls. They are so well constructed that there is no problem holding my weight. It is obvious the beaver have been quite busy here, though I failed to see any on my trek.

© Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 66707962 - Canada Goose; Walton County, Georgia. January 24, 2018.

On my short, lunchtime nature walk I spot:

• 4 Wood ducks flush, south end
• 22 Canada geese on the pond at the southern terminus
• 2 Black Vultures soaring
• 1 Red-shouldered hawk hollering
• 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
• 1 Carolina Wren flitting about
• 1 Eastern Towhee scraping in dry leaves

Later in the afternoon: a first quarter moon that rose at 12:42 PM is now plainly visible and hanging in the blue sky about 35° from the horizon, to the east.

Posted on January 24, 2022 05:51 PM by williamwisephoto