Okay, yesterday I promised only good news and some new ideas about our beavers. We’re due. I have a couple thoughts based on recent observations. The first is on our smallest kit. Dubbed ‘Dainty’ by a local homeless man, this kit is often referred to as the runt or the female because of its diminutive size. Don’t worry, good things come in small packages. Observation has shown that this small kit is also the boldest. It was the first to go over the dam. It was the first to initiate ‘push’ matches with its siblings. It was the first to lose interest in the branches provided by Worth A Dam and go seek out its own.

Recently (the beaver formerly known as) ‘dainty’ has begun showing some remarkable dam instincts/training. When the first hard rain flooded the gap it was dainty who first noticed and went to investigate. In fact “investigating” is the behavior we most often see from her/him. The other day a square of flat plywood appeared at the dam and dainty was seen swimming around it, poking it, pawing it. Nothing escapes notice. When stalwart beaver supporter Jon went onto the dam recently to retrieve a trashy ice chest that had floated down stream his noises drew dainty out of the lodge. The kit swam in a zigzag across the pond and back and forth past the dam after he left making sure that everything was the way it was supposed to be. When ‘dainty’ comes out of the lodge upstream, she/he swims first to the area near the gap as if to check the dam. When the larger kits emerge they always go to the nearest corner of the dam to see if there’s anything good to eat.

I remembered that Hope Ryden in Lily Pond described in particular that father beaver was the first one out of the lodge every night and that he went straight to the dam and checked his handiwork to make sure no repairs were needed. That pattern certainly hasn’t been true for our patriarch, but he is often seen working on the dam in ways no other beaver attempts. We’ve seen him below the dam, plugging holes while the others work from above. We’ve seen dad ripping up hand fulls of tules by the roots and using them in an emergency. Dad has always seemed more focused on the dam than his family members. Which brings me to my new theory.

‘Dainty’ is a boy.

Which means, among other things, that he needs a new name! It is true that beavers are equal opportunity employers and that all beavers do all things, but there do seem to be patterns. When we see Dad it is most often during major dam work, and he’s always doing the most important thing. We’ve seen him following the kits and changing the placement of their sticks after they leave. Mom was the only beaver we ever saw carrying mud or sticks onto the lodge. There do seem to be slight preferences in gender roles and this little beaver seems very ready to learn Dad’s trade.

So if dainty –  manly – our smallest kit is a boy, it naturally leads to  a second theory I’ve been having about GQ, who seems to have stopped staying in the old lodge with Dad and is sleeping in a second lodge down stream near the footbridge often with 1-2 kits. I have heard and read that male yearlings shouldn’t be housed with adult males because they will fight.  It suggests that one reason GQ has stopped staying in the lodge mom built is because he’s a male and needs space away from Dad. It makes sense that he’d want his own territory, and I suppose the kits needing him has delayed his taking off on his own. Our littlest beaver seems to spend a lot of time with GQ, and often when you see one you see the other.

Although sunday night it definitely seemed like GQ came from the old lodge, which is where I always thought Dad was, which makes me think that either my theory is wrong or Dad is on walkabout.

Enough with my theories, here’s lovely fact for you. Ian Timothy’s episode IV and V of beaver Creek have one for 2011 Scholastic Regional Award and will go on for consideration in the national competition.  Congratulations Ian! We’re so proud! We always new you had it in you. My goodness, its hard work waiting for episode 6!