Justin Beaver

Earlier this week I forced myself out of bed an hour earlier than normal and went outside to take picture of any wildlife I came across. It felt really good to get outside and be kind of productive before going to work and I definitely will be doing it more often in the future! I was mostly expecting to see birds and squirrels, but was treated to something I wasn't expected - a beaver! I've seen beavers in the wild before, but just glimpses of them and then they disappear. I saw this guy swimming along the bank of the Olentangy River and I ended up being able to follow him down the river for almost an hour. It was so cool to watch him (or her I suppose, hard to tell) nibble on food, fight his way through the stronger parts of the current, and eye me suspiciously if I got too close. One time I startled him and he slapped his tail on the water and disappeared underwater for a while before showing up again downstream.

I was a little disappointed with the pictures I was able to get (turns out beavers tend to stay mostly covered by water), but overall it was a super cool experience. Here are a few pictures!