If you look carefully at this photo you can see why I am able to take photos of the local beavers—when I am standing on the boardwalk I am virtually on top of their lodge in the center of the beaver pond.
About 18 months ago, the county replaced the boardwalk surface at Huntley Meadows Park with a synthetic material and shortly thereafter the beavers relocated themselves from another area of the park. I am not sure how the beavers decided on this spot, but they took over one of the benches on the boardwalk and integrated it into their architectural plans. This fall I followed their progress as they added mud and branches to the lodge and built up the walls surrounding the beaver pond.
The entrance to the lodge seems to be underneath the board walk itself and the recent photos I have taken of the beavers and muskrats have been in the pond area to the right. This is also one of my favorite spots for photographing geese and ducks taking off and landing and, during the summer, for getting shots of dragonflies, frogs, and turtles.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
That has to be the most accessible spot to a beaver lodge and you are putting it to great use.
That’s amazing that they would do that. I was reading the other day that they just build a big mound of twigs and then literally eat the open spaces into it.
Now that show their eagerness to be photographed.
that is truly amazing that they took over the bench and deck like that..