Wrong lens; toward the light… well, that’s the world outdoors. Wish I could have had the longer lens though (and that I hadn’t had to shoot through willow branches).
Looking for a good angle for a landscape shot of the river, I spotted something familiar in the water just over the bank 50 yards ahead . A beaver was sitting in the water near shore eating the bark of a willow that he had just cut. As I stalked nearer, being as quiet as I could, his wife appeared from under the river ice (I assumed she was his wife: they’re quite traditional critters you know) and began to feed with him. I was finally able to get these shots from about twenty yards.
The first three photos are the male who is larger and his fur had somewhat dried off from being out of the water for awhile. The last three are of his wife who was still quite wet. I enjoyed the piece of ice on her head in the fourth photo (she didn’t seem to even notice it) and included the fifth photo because it shows her big webbed rear feet as well as the fingers on her hands.
His wife is a cute little thing, isn’t she!
(These photos are part of 46 that I took over a period of 22 minutes while standing on the snowy river bank in a light rain, totally fascinated by my new friends.)
Montana Outdoors 