Fine craftsmanship

I posted earlier about some beaver work near the spot where I do the water testing. In the large photo, that would be off to the right at the top. The Husband assured me there was more extensive evidence of beavers at work upstream just a bit, and how right he was!

This is the same spot where they had a dam a few years ago that got washed away. Now they are hard at work restoring their home. (I think the red tree is a wild cherry—quite beautiful even in this sad condition. If any tree lovers know better, please ID for me.)

I set up the trail camera on the large tree in the last photo aiming toward the creek and the dam. I hope to get a few photos of the beavers at work in the next week or so before that tree comes down as well.

The real reason for walking down there today was in search of the mystery white duck with a black head that I have seen recently. Too hard to identify, even with binoculars, from the house. I saw it and its mate just before they flew off. The trail cam should catch them too if I aimed it properly. 

The white one was definitely a Common Merganser, according to my Sibley Guide to Birds. The male is only that color from November through July, breeding season, and its head is dark green, not black. The female had the more common coloring for mergansers, mostly gray plumage, with a reddish brown head and a red beak.

So next post will hopefully have some duck and maybe even duckling pics (fingers crossed!) and I will post a Woody update as well. Getting him off the prednisone altogether may be the answer to all the problems he and I have had in the last few weeks.