Exploring a Beaver Pond

James and TravelLady drove from the South to Wyoming with J.D. and Toni during the Christmas holidays.
We stopped about every 3 hours for a bathroom break and to walk the dogs.  They explored the banks of this pond in central Nebraska.  These trees were perfectly carved away by beavers.  Along side of these trees were 2 others already down and in the water.  At first I thought of this as destruction of beautiful  trees.
After some on-line research, I learned that beavers are a very important part of the ecosystem. 
They help to create ponds and wetlands by building small beaver dams.  These wetlands provide excellent habitat for many other small species - some endangered species.  Beavers are vegetarians and their main food source is tree bark - especially willow and cottonwood trees.  It is thought that they have no natural predators at this point in time.

never too old to learn.....

.....TravelLady