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I’m looking for a beaver in the Montrose Beach dunes. 
Anyone good at identifying paw prints?
Someone else recently saw those gnawed trees and posted it on @inaturalist as evidence of a beaver.
In the marshy area just west of there, someone posted a photo this summer that was identified as a beaver — but someone else saw a similar creature identified as a muskrat.
Yeah, I imagine those are probably dog tracks. Even though they’re in a “no dog” area! https://twitter.com/Ogie86022994/status/1331981611777318913
No luck. The Montrose Beach beaver remains elusive.
I think I might have glimpsed this beaver when I was there around sunrise recently. (The mystery Lake Michigan creature I tweeted about.) https://twitter.com/nacho_biznes/status/1331989965920755712
It looks like some of these trees were gnawed a while ago, based on the coloration of the wood …
… while others look freshly gnawed.
And it looks like those trees out in the water may have been chewed on, too.
Where the beaver was?
Some logs and branches are scattered in the nearby sands and grass … possibly beaver-gnawed?
The water surely did some damage to those trees out by the lake’s edge — that’s not all beaver wreckage. Here’s a comparison of the trees on June 22 and today.
Reading up about beaver infrastructure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver#Infrastructure
"During the first half of the night they forage; they do construction work in the second half."
"Within the lodge, beavers communicate with burps and whines. They produce gargles and bubbles when entering and exiting."
Someone else reports seeing a beaver in that same area by Montrose Beach: https://twitter.com/XW8S4NO1/status/1334911558795882501?s=20
All of this reminds me of how beavers were so important in the region around Chicago back when fur was the major local commodity. This is from Ann Durkin Keating's book "Rising Up From Indian Country."
from "Early Chicago" by Ulrich Danckers and Jane Meredith
from "A Natural History of the Chicago Region" by Joel Greenberg
According to Greenberg, beavers were absent from the Chicago area for about a century — until the Indiana Department of Natural Resources released a small number into the wild in 1935. It's believed that some of them crossed over into Illinois.
He also notes, somewhat mysteriously: "Additional [beavers] were liberated on Cook County Forest Preserve District land in the Palos area."
If this turns out to be correct, the mysterious Montrose beaver may have chewed and moved on. https://twitter.com/XW8S4NO1/status/1335403610960777221?s=20
It’s hard to be certain, but I think some of the trees near the Montrose Beach dunes have been gnawed since the last time I was there, on Tuesday. I previously saw the one on the left here, but not the one on the right. (I think.)
This chunk of wood was lying this morning in the sand a hundred feet or more west of the gnawed trees.
I looked at tracks in the sand. There are a lot of dog paw prints, so I’m not sure if there are other animal tracks in there or not. ($5 bill added for scale.)
I guess these tracks are from a heron, maybe?
Next time, I will try to have some coins in my pocket, which would be an easier way of showing the size of animal tracks.
Great Blue Heron Track https://www.bear-tracker.com/heron.html
