I wanted some shots of some birds at the lake, but they were uncooperative. As I was driving away, I noticed that a small pond was really muddy and saw this one munching away. It was getting dark and even at ISO 1000 had to shoot at 1/10 sec so there is some blur.

Hey Durwood,

Nicely done. I don't often get the opportunity to photograph beaver. Even when I have gotten close, they generally are skittish and want to move away quickly. I did get relatively close in Yellowstone this year - but again, it was dark and the image wound up being much noisier than I like.

James

James,
A tip on photographing Beaver. I have found that if you walk up on the Beaver, they hide. But if you get there before daylight and you are already there when they come out, then they tend to ignore you if you move slow while photographing them. You can also get there before evening and wait for them to come out. The trick is to be there when they come out and they accept your presence.

I was in my car. When I noticed the beaver in the pond, I turned around (only about 20 feet further on) and parked right beside the pond. I was about 50 feet away and shot out of my car window (with caution blinkers on, of course.)