Last Monday I was thrilled to spot this North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) slowly swimming by me in the early morning light at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I was able to follow the beaver along the shore for several minutes before it disappeared with a big splash, as you can see in the final photo that show the beaver’s distinctive tail, the last part of the beaver to enter the water.
The limited light caused me to shoot at slower shutter speeds than the situation actually demanded, but the slight blurriness somehow enhances the dreamlike feeling of the time around sunrise. I checked the data on the final shot and was a little shocked to see that I took it with a shutter speed of 1/50 of a second. Somehow I was able to capture a decent composition and an almost abstract-style image—the image that you see is also uncropped.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to those of you who are celebrating the holiday. I grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts, where St. Patrick’s Day is a big deal, including a large parade that, alas, had to be canceled this year.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
It’s interesting how much your swimming beaver looks like our swimming nutria. Of course, both are semi-aquatic rodents, so the resemblance shouldn’t be so surprising.
Our swimming muskrats look similar too–I often look for the tail in order to tell for sure if it is a beaver or a muskrat. I did a quick check on the internet and it looks like nutria have a tail like that of a muskrat, but have the same bright orange front teeth as a beaver.
This year for you it’s St. Beaver’s Day.
Nice, I have never gotten the ‘tail slap’ cool
Thanks, Ted. I think it was a matter of instinctive reaction that resulted in me getting the slap shot, rather than any special skill.
LOL, I know that feeling well…
I especially like the first one. Sublime.
Thanks, Michael. The first image is also my favorite, with its soft sunrise colors and gentle ripples.
Art.
Ha, guess he spotted you! 😉 Good going on the ‘slap’ shot.
Didn’t realize you are a fellow Baystater, Mike, do you have the Bah-ston accent?
My siblings have a noticeable Boston accent, but mine is essentially gone, if I ever had one. I think that studying foreign languages and twenty years in the Army wiped out all traces. (FYI, I was born in Boston and grew up in Medford.) As you suspected, there in fact was a loud slap after the beaver spotted me–it may have spotted me a bit earlier and got frustrated when I hung around.
Great captures, Mike, and a beauty on the tail splash!
Thanks, Ellen. The tail shot is a fun one for anyone who has experienced the loud sound of the tail before the sudden dive into the deep.
How wonderful Mike, I’ve shared on twitter 🙂
Thanks, Liz. I guess I should try using Twitter more myself. 🙂
Great shots, Mike!!
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Great series, Mike. All three images are beautiful but I especially like the serene feel of the first one and the surprise splash of the third!
Thanks, Chris. The first one is definitely my favorite. The soft colors and the gentle ripples make the image really special for me.
Beautiful images.