Deep in the heart of the ancient Adirondack Mountains lies an old beaver pond that beckons me to return, time and again. It is here that solitude, so rare these days, can be found.
As dusk settles over the mountains a whitetail deer silently appears at the shore of the pond to drink. Dead timber, skeletons of the trees they once were, are now standing like sentinels all across the pond. Wood ducks float quietly among these strange guardians.
Dusk deepens into night. A full moon rises above the treetops, its illumination discovering wakes on the still surface of the pond. Wakes left by beavers on patrol, inspecting the dam and preparing for a long nights work stocking the beaver lodge's pantry for the long winter ahead. Crickets are singing and a barred owl, up on the hillside overlooking the pond, cuts the dampening air with a series of hoots. Not wanting to be discovered by this avian predator a ruffed grouse hunkers down in a tangle of blackberry bushes. The moon slips behind a lonely, thick cloud that blots out the moonlight. The darkness deepens and where there were hundreds, now there are thousands of stars twinkling across the dark expanse.
A faint glow appears in the eastern sky, a new day is beginning. The beaver return to the lodge. A good nights work has been accomplished by nature's engineers and now it is time for some rest. The whitetail deer returns to the pond for a quick drink before heading off to its daytime bed.
The sun takes its turn to peek over the eastern treetops, the new day is here. The ruffed grouse leaves the protective berry patch, heading off in search of some succulent vegetation for breakfast. Soon a flock of cedar waxwings are busy plucking ripe blackberries from the pond-side berry patch that protected the grouse last night. A black bear intrudes on the cedar waxwings feast, scattering them to all points of the compass. Having eaten its fill the bear wanders off along the muddy shoreline of the pond leaving its tracks in the mud. The ripe blackberries signal the arrival of autumn at the beaver pond. The next feast for the pond's neighbors will occur with the ripening wild cherries and mast, beechnuts and acorns.
Long before autumn is officially over winter will arrive. At first with a dusting of snow on the landscape. The surface of the beaver pond turns to ice, locking the beaver in the lodge and under the surface of the pond. The beavers' work repairing the lodge will discourage a marauding coyote, bobcat or otter from digging into the lodge which now has a frost hardened mud coating that is as tough as concrete. The beaver will pass the winter safe and well fed under a heavy blanket of snow.
The black bear will solve the problem of surviving the long cold winter by hibernating, but only if it managed to obtain enough forage to provide sufficient fat reserves. Most of the ponds neighbors will struggle to see the return of spring, only the strongest will survive.
All is well at the pond. The cycle of life continues as it has for eons.
The Beaver Pond September 26, 1999
In 2006 the beaver that had occupied the pond, abandoned it. The trees and plants that are the beavers preferred food sources, especially aspen, had been exhausted from the larder that surrounded the pond. By late summer 2007 the pond was a mere puddle surrounded by a wide belt of soggy ground.
The change was dramatic and inspired me to begin photographing a series of yearly panoramas of the beaver pond. To obtain a photo of the entire pond required eight separate images "stitched" together to cover a 220° pan of the camera.
The original purpose for photographing the pond, after 2006, was to document the changes to the pond and surrounding area as it went through the process of succession. Now that a colony of beaver have taken up residence the focus of the project is changing from documenting the succession of the pond to long term documentation and maintaining a photo-journal as well as a written journal of the changes at the beaver pond.
The Beaver Pond August 19, 2007
Click on any image for a larger version
Thanks for visiting Bunch's Journal, more beaver pond journal entries to follow,
Bunch
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bunchlewisphotography.com
