Bi-yearlings?

heidi08 Beaver News, kits October 26, 2009

Worth A Dam has been quietly mourning the fact that we had no kits that survived this year. It is hard to know why that was, but we know some reasons why it wasn’t. It was not because of inadequate food supply, because the rest of our family is looking quite fat and happy. Our beavers are eating mainly tulles with a side of willow, and with the entire marina at their disposal they aren’t running out of cattails any time soon. It was also probably not because the mink ate them. A beaver kit, even newborn, is the size of a guinea pig and a mink is smaller than a cat. Also mink are notoriously messy eaters and would likely leave clues. Jon has been checking the creek in the kayak and hasn’t seen signs of what happened. One benefit of the mink is that they are very high on the food chain, so if they were here and thriving it gives us an important clue about creek health, which suggest that it probably wasn’t something bad in the water either.

It may have something to do with mom’s eye condition, and her not being well enough to care for them. From what we could see she stopped milk production early and she may have just been unable to feed them. Or maybe they weren’t around anymore so milk production wasn’t triggered. A good portion of beaver watching is guesswork, and to be honest, we just don’t know why we didn’t have surviving kits this year. We hope its a one-time event, and that we get a new batch next year, but we just don’t know what will happen.

Photo: Cheryl Reynolds

Which brings me to the title of this post. What happens next year? Normally kits hang around and become yearlings and last year’s-yearlings take off and become adults. What happens when you skip a generation? Our three yearlings are still here and healthy and almost ready for the world. Will 2008 beavers be “failure to launch” yearlings? Will they stick around for an extra lesson in dam building and become bi-yearlings? The research says they can stay with the colony 2-3 years, so this could be the three they’re talking about. How will Mom and Dad feel about them sticking around? Aren’t you curious?

Speaking of curious, if you want to know more about the origins of algae bloom that is causing so much grief for the north coast’s seabirds (and our VP of wildlife!) check out this slideshow and lecture from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It’s a great introduction to the issue.

Day 1: Bird Rescue Overflow…

heidi08 New Species, pictures October 25, 2009

IBRRC brought back 100 birds last night, only 3 died in transport. Now they’re down to the grueling (and pecky!) work of washing and hydrating each one. Latest Update Here. Cheryl was there to help and took this picture. And guess who else was there? Penny and John Weigand who did the Comeback Kids book on the Martinez Beavers. They are doing a similar book on IBRRC, and just happened to be visiting that day. What a lucky coincidence for them! And for all those birds who got rescued and will be given free health care.

Speaking of which, have you seen this? It is a remarkable example of the kind of politics I aspire to, charming, courageous, sneaky and impossible to ignore

What did you do last Saturday?

heidi08 Educational, Friends of Martinez Beavers October 24, 2009

Birds & their helpers need your Help!

heidi08 Environmental, New Species October 24, 2009

There’s a massive algae bloom off the Oregon and Washington coast. No one knows why, but it means that the oceans are covered with a thick foam. The foam washes away the protective oils on the water birds, leaving them without the ability to repel water and stay warm. Thousands of birds are washing up on shore, many dead or too weak to survive. The rescue center seen above had stepped boldly up to take care of scoters, grebes, loons, murres, and other shore birds from washington, but now is overwhelmed by its own birds as the effects of the bloom move south. They were overwhelmed and sent some birds north to a sister facility. Now they need help from California.

Enter IBRRC. (International Bird Rescue & Research Center). They are experts at dealing with these kinds of situations, but this is different. It’s like the effect of an oil spill without the oil.. They dispatched a volunteer friday night to go to Oregon and rent a truck that could bring some 200 birds back to their head quarters in suisun in animal carriers. They are starting with the loons which are the most time sensitive. In anticipation of the arrival they put out a massive volunteer call which is how I heard about it. Our own Cheryl Reynolds, will be there monday and probably many days after to help.

P. CHILTON/Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team

A red-throated Loon, covered in foam, lies in the sand near the Klipsan beach approach on the northern end of the Long Beach Peninsula. The bird was still alive when this photo was taken.

If you can help IBRRC or the Wildlife Center in Astoria, please do. The frontline folk have been struggling to keep up and IBRRC has only dealt with this kind of bloom once before. No one knows why it happens. Sometimes its entirely natural, and sometimes its triggered by the actions of man. What would a sea be like with no shore birds? Help if you can.

Hands off our dam!

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Environmental October 23, 2009

Listen my children and understand
The beavers lost in Maryland
Bill Greene of Olde Stage Knolls remembers
The wetland built in past Decembers
Now are drained and barren land…

(apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Here’s a familiar story out of Bowie, Maryland with an exciting new twist. Seems home owner Bill Greene is pursuing legal action over his missing beavers after the Home Owner’s Association turned his “wetland” into a “dryland”.

Bill Greene used to enjoy the tranquility of the pond that once backed up to his and about 20 other houses in the Olde Stage Knolls neighborhood in Bowie.The pond, which was there before the housing development was built more than 18 years ago, was made by a beaver dam, said Greene and his neighbor, Jeanette Rodkey. But the beavers and the dam were removed and the pond consequently drained in March at the request the Olde Stage Homeowners Association, HOA president David Perroto said.

So Mr. Greene notified the Maryland Department of the Environment who came out and inspected the drained pond and dam-age. Turns out the MDE was very interested to learn that the HOA never obtained any permits for the work or the destruction of the beavers.

“I’m not a tree-hugger or something, but it really bothers me that this area was destroyed,” Greene said. “I think it’s important that people understand that even that five acres behind your home is wetlands and it’s protected.”

Ahhh, way to go, Bill! Even in your non-tree-hugging capacity, you tell em! It’s about time people realized that there are consequences for removing beavers, including destroying wetlands. Disabling valuable habitat is an expensive act that should never be undertaken lightly. Any environmental lawyers reading this? Pay attention. I think this could set a precedent. Right now if you want to mess with wetland in California, F&G makes you create some other wetland as compensation. How about if every time a beaver dam were destroyed the habitat had to be replaced somewhere else at the property owner’s expense?

Might slow down the “slash and burn” a bit.

Violations included work done on the site without authorization by MDE and the removal of sediment leading to water pollution.

Now we’re talking. Let’s discuss what is released when a dam is destroyed? And by extension what beaver dams hold back for us? Maybe the property owner who leaves one on his land should get a tax credit, because of all the good he’s doing for the water and the environment?

The case has been forwarded to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office by MDE for possible enforcement action, said MDE spokesman Jay Apperson, who declined to comment further on the specific case because it remains under review.The association’s liability insurance is paying for the cost of legal representation in the case and would cover any fines the state might assess, he said.The home owner’s association’s former management company, D.H. Bader Management Services, contracted with ABC All Wildlife for the work on behalf of the HOA, according to the MDE report. Representatives from D.H. Bader did not return calls for comment.

Like that name? “All Wildlife”. Um, maybe they left off the first part “we kill”? Or maybe ABC stands for “Always Bash Critters”? Here’s the address for the attorney general of Maryland in case you want to let him know why destroying Wetlands should have consequences.