Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Crunch Crunch

You'll never see another photo like this one: The beaver team down on the LaBarque thought they'd fell this mature creekside oak -- which would have been the largest timber in their dam -- but then changed their minds, apparently. Wonder why? Their jaws got tired? Too much chance it would fall the wrong way and create a fatality? Too tall to guide down their mud chute into the creek? They've simply abandoned this particular tree.

1 comment:

Paul said...

I've seen a number of trees like that in beaver country. I assumed the beavers weakened the trunk and then let the wind bring it down more safely than they could. Often they're after the tips of the topmost branches to eat as their winter food (rather than to use the tree in their dam or lodge). Might bear watching to see what happens next.