While walking along North Shore Road in Promised Land State Park in Greentown, PA, we came upon a muddy smudge stretching across the recently paved roadway. On closer inspection, I realized that something was afoot—something that left evidence of its passing, one webbed paw at a time, with a telltale tail drag in between. A beaver had been about!

For sure, the tracks weren’t top quality, but the context in which they occurred offered adequate clues to the unobserved creature, like the fact that it had crossed from a roadside wetland to the larger Promised Land Lake across the road.

Beavers are semi-aquatic mammals and this one had scored a super spot for the habitat preferred by its species. 

Other evidence was there to suggest that my guess was correct. Just around the bend is a large beaver lodge in the lake, one of several stick-built humps rising from the water, and clumps of chiseled saplings severed along the shoreline.

Although the beaver didn’t emerge that day, or warn us away with a dramatic smack of its paddle-like tail, I’ve observed one at that location several times in the past. (The beaver depicted here was encountered at Shohola Recreation Area in Pike County, PA.) 

In the Upper Delaware River region, beavers mate in late January through March, with fully furred babies born in late April through early June. They usually mate for life and live in colonies that include a breeding pair and offspring up to approximately two years of age.

Beavers are called “nature’s engineers” for their work constructing dams and the resultant ponds, and their activities benefit many wildlife species, such as birds that nest in the dead snags or tree cavities associated with beaver ponds, as well as fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals like otters and muskrats. The ponds also provide environmental benefits related to water storage and purification. Visit here to learn more.