Here’s a video of Bernie & Bernice in a rare daylight outing on Tuesday. It was taken by our renowned neighbor David Porter, who was in the right place at the right time and (as usual) knew what to do when doing had to be done. Thanks, David.
Our favorite American beavers may have been working overtime Tuesday to get more done before the pond iced up. If so, they didn’t make it, as you’ll see from the image below of the pond yesterday. Yet, B&B’s beaver building mess keeps getting bigger and messier.
As of yesterday, their construction site looked like an ice-encased tornado target. I suspect that B&B have a snug burrow on the island in the middle of this pond as their headquarters. It’s going to be interesting to see how the ice affects their lodge-building.
By the way, apparently a beaver home is only called a lodge when the beaver moves up in life from a burrow to a larger domed, two-level model made of surrounding trees, branches, mud, and rock, with entrances below the water line – and with or without a beaver ballroom.
If Google is correct, the word “lodge” originated from an ancient word meaning "shelter of foliage" and evolved to describe a small, temporary building or hut. Over time, its meaning expanded to encompass various types of specific-purpose and, later, grand structures. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on December 2 [video] and 5 [still], 2025.)