Another beaver dam and a possible beaver print

Whilst exploring the muddy banks* of Little Seneca Lake, I came upon a couple of peculiar prints in the mud. Here is a photo of one.

Is this the foot print of a beaver (Castor canadensis)? I don't think it is a goose or a duck print, because a bird wouldn't have left such a deep impression, would it?

My suspicion that those prints belonged to a beaver was strengthened about a half an hour later when I literally walked into this beaver dam (yes, I was wading in the creek, looking for snails). The small creek flowing thru the dam is the 10-Mile Creek that empties into Little Seneca Lake near the northwest corner of Black Hill Regional Park in Montgomery County, Maryland.


I estimated the length of the dam as 5 m. I will return to check up on the future activities of the beavers. I wonder where their lodge is.

*I guess I should have said "shores", for normally streams have banks, lakes have shores.

Previous posts on beavers and their dams:

Beaver's luck or the lack thereof

A beaver dam

Beaver's dam and lodge

Beaver's dam is no more