Images from a Beaver Pond

A slide show from a trail camera.

Margaret McKane captured this image of a beaver with an automated trail camera. Photo by Margaret McKane.

SVT member Margaret McKane is a regular contributor to our Nature Sightings column, and her images clearly illustrate the important and essential role that beavers play in nature.

By damming streams, beavers make significant changes to our local landscape. Their ponds help extend the many benefits of wetlands by providing additional space for flood storage, by slowly releasing water, and by extending storage even into droughts. 

Humans aren’t the only ones who benefit. Beaver ponds are a magnet for wildlife.

In addition to the aquatic species that use the ponds – fish, frogs, turtles, salamanders, water snakes, and so forth – other species such as water birds, bats, mink, and raccoons will find a high portion of their food at beaver ponds. The ponds are also a reliable place to find wider ranging species, like bobcats and coyotes. 

Margaret lives next to a small SVT conservation land where beavers have dammed a stream and built a lodge in the resulting pond. Luckily for us, she has positioned an automatic trail camera on her land and has shared images of the many species who stop by for a visit. We hope you enjoy this collection of her images.

All photos copyright Margaret McKane.

A beaver in Framingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Beaver
A white-tailed deer watches a beaver in Framingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Whitetailed Deer
A green heron in Framingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Green Heron
A coyote in Framingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Coyote
Wood ducks in Framingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Wood Ducks
A family of wood ducks in Framingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Wood Ducks
A bobcat and her kitten in Framingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Bobcats
A great blue heron in Framingham, photographed by Margaret McKane.
Great Blue Heron
A white-tailed deer in Frmaingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Whitetailed Deer
A raccoon in Framingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Raccoon
White-tailed deer in Framingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Fisher
A white-tailed deer and its fawn in Frmaingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Whitetailed Deer
A coyote passes by mallards in Framingham, photographed using an automatically triggered trail camera by Margaret McKane.
Coyote
White-tailed deer in Framingham, photographed with an automatically triggered wildlife camera by Margaret McKane.
Whitetailed Deer