Helping Hand

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, kits July 4, 2010

Photo: Cheryl Reynolds

How old are our three kits? The truth is we can’t be sure. The first was seen on June 9th and we assumed it was about 4 weeks old. Sharon Brown of Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife thinks more like 6, since kits don’t come out of the lodge on their own until they can dive, and they can’t do that until 6 weeks. Our kits were so small this year, and mom was in such poor health, that we think they might have emerged early to feed. That places them somewhere around 9-10 weeks old. Kits stop nursing around 8 weeks, and their digestion is ready for the big job of feeding entirely on leaves and bark.

Worth A Dam made the decision to keep easy food available for our three when mom’s health began to decline. Since her death we have been dropping cottonwood and willow at the dam site to allow them easy access to branches. This lets them feed and fatten naturally, while practicing chewing and tugging and figuring out just how to swim with three feet of willowy goodness in your paws. Our decision to supplemental feed has been reported on the news and in the press. It is not a secret and it should not be controversial. Here is an example of how supplemental feeding works when humans aren’t involved.

I took this photo in October of 2007. It shows one of our 4 first kits feeding on a felled willow tree in the annex behind the lodge. This is beaver-generated supplmental feeding. Dad brought down this tree so that four youngsters would have easy eating close to home, and could practice chewing and dragging branches on their own. The kits initial feeding consisted of branches brought by the parents into the lodge, branches carefully laid in the water, or low hanging willow and blackberry the kits could snatch for themselves. We have seen all three kits taking food from the banks as well.

This year Worth A Dam made the decision to paint the trees around the lodge with sand to make them less attractive food. Our concern was that the lodge remain shaded and protected from human interference. It has worked in keeping trees but it means there are fewer “training trees” for dad to take down in the immediate area. We will continue to supply branches for another two weeks at least. When the kits get a little bigger I’m sure Dad will try out the lovely new willow we planted in the annex. Have you looked at it lately? It’s huge!

Legacy

heidi08 Uncategorized July 4, 2010

“Like a Temple”

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Friends of Martinez Beavers July 3, 2010

This was the parting comment from an appreciative visitor to the dam last night. She and her family had come from out of town for the evening to watch the beavers, have dinner downtown, and then return to the waterside for a final glimpse. She thanked us earnestly for pushing the city into allowing the beavers to stay and said that the sight had been amazing, “like a temple”. And it is true, every single member of the family had stood and watched reverently as three baby beavers paddled around the main pond.

(Finally, a religion I can understand!)

The sense of entering a sacred space is powerful and certainly one I have had visiting the beavers at times. I can remember particular moments in nature – an oxalis carpeted redwood grove, a cathedral of bay lining both sides of a leaf-covered canyon, standing in a blanket of snow while broad flakes fall all around you, a quiet moment watching a mother deer with her fawn – these are truly ‘temple’ experiences and I’m grateful for every one. It touches me deeply that the visiting family found that kind of peace and wonder in the presence of our beavers, and was generous enough to share it.

Finding the same feeling in manmade structures has been more elusive, but here is a place I was lucky enough to glimpse it:

Photo: Heidi Perryman

the hypostyle hall at Karnak in Egypt.

Kit Approaches Gap…

heidi08 Uncategorized July 2, 2010

Thinks better of it…We are hoping they don’t get used to going over until July 5th — after the fireworks and 500 people walking over the creek to see the 4th of July display at the Marina.

Identification

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, kits July 2, 2010

One of the parts I most enjoyed about Hope Ryden’s Lily Pond was her fastidious observation of beaver differences that allowed to tell individual members of the colony apart. She described things like different fur color, toenail color and behavior. We have never been half that skilled with our beavers, and one of the reasons mom was always so popular is that she came to us with a unique signature tail that made her recognizable — eventually. (It was December of 2007 before I really ‘saw’ the marking in her tail. Moses was showing footage of her and dad almost mating and you could tell ‘who was who’ by ahem what they were doing.) That was the introduction to mom’s unique tail, which was later confirmed when her breast feeding kits produced visible teats.

With mom gone and Dad and the two year old nearly the same size, our job is much harder. I thought I would write down some of the clues we use to tell them apart. Appearance is a big one. Our two-year old is a sleek, handsome beaver who looks ready to take on the world. I describe him as “GQ” beaver, although there is no way to infer gender. Dad is more ‘Marlboro Man”. Different facial coloring gives him a ‘weathered’ look, as if he has been around the block a few times and seen it all before. Here’s identical footage of each coming back over the beaver dam. The one on the bottom is Dad.

Another clue I am more confident with is behavior. Dad is a stealthy, canny and often sneaky beaver. He usually emerges from the lodge with only a string of bubbles that reach all the way to the dam and then slips over the gap without any noise at all. He does not usually approach areas where people are and can give a tail slap just because he dislikes being watched from the bridge. The two year old was starting to act more like dad up until the kits adoption further confounding the difficulties, but now GQ beaver is very visible, swimming close to inspect for any threat and keeping an eye on where the kits get to. Dad is actually more visible too, stopping to pick up a branch for the kits and take it back to the lodge. Behavior is a clue, but its a changeable clue.

Telling the kits apart? Now that’s another job entirely. We have a crack team of beaver-identification-ologists working on it around the clock and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.