Thanks, Heidi, that was great! The video footage you have compiled is invaluable—so many interesting behaviors and interactions with other species. In the less enclosed spaces that beavers typically occupy, these details go unnoticed and unrecorded 99.99% of the time. And then, when the opportunities do arise, the interest usually is not there.
Skip Lisle (who will show up in his own video tomorrow!)
I love the video. I’m watching it right now when I should be working. My first favorite parts were the city council meeting followed by the beaver in a bag and the splash sound of the warning flat tail flap.
Thx so much for doing this. Let’s hope it goes viral.
Mark Comstock (Musician & Songwriter)
That was super! Just super! It made my day! What more can I say? Hope
Yesterday was blurry with riches. Out of the blue I received an email from musician Mark Comstock who asked if he could send me a copy of a song he wrote and recorded for the Martinez Beavers. He’s a friend of the Hopeful Romantics who played at the festival this year. Of course, I said “yes” but I honestly had no idea how delightful it would be. I’m going to work on a video with this soundtrack this afternoon so hopefully it will get the attention it deserves. If you can’t wait you can click here
To top it off, I’m told Disney artist D.W. Murray just completed this illustration of the world-saving dam built by “Slapper and Patty” to protect against the rapid rise of waters from global warming in Jo Marshall’s latest Twig Stories. Jo has already promised us some copies for next years beaver festival, so we’re eager to learn if the wonder-dam was up to the task.
D.W. Murray
Obviously Slapper and Patty are needed at the moment in drought-burdened Texas to help with the horrific fires which are by far the worst in the state’s history. Go tell the governor that apparently it makes no difference if Texas doesn’t pay attention to climate change, because climate change is still paying attention to YOU.
Remember our beaver friend from the Netherlands Willy Koning? She spent four years filming beavers for a documentary and I begged her to record one in english. Last night she sent these, it is so refreshing to see beavers doing what they do and know that there were no intrusive techniques or snake cams involved, just patient watching. The last two are my favorite, but you should really watch them all.
Ohh and guess what I saw this morning coming over the beaver dam? Apparently summer isn’t over yet….
Did you ever see the remarkable movie “Defending your life”? It’s set in the afterlife where you’re evaluated to see if you’re ready to move on or need another shot at learning to be a human being. Albert Brooks plays his funny, neurotic, fear-laden self, with all the hang ups and foibles humans have. His co-star Meryl Streep plays a graceful, giving, fearless woman who has lived an exceptional life.
The pair meet and court while they’re waiting for their trial, (his is going to be NINE days because his life was so shoddy while her panel tells her they’ll do the second day just for enjoyment’s sake) As they connect they learn that they have very different circumstances based on their standing going into trial. She has a jacuzzi tub, a hotel that serves champagne and caviar, amazing meals, and a best friend for a lawyer. He has motel 6 and a DVD with popcorn. In every possible way their situations are contrasted with often hilarious results. He notes their differences without resentment. It never stops them from being friends.
At the end of his grueling trial (where they show you clips of your life and lawyers discussed whether you did the right thing) he is eviscerated for his weakness and walks dejectedly over to see how Meryl is fairing. He finds her curled up in a comfortable chair while her judges wipe away tears and comment on her extraordinary life of courage and kindness. His trial has been – well a trial. Hers has been a celebration.
I thought of this movie today when I read the new lovely beaver article from Vermont. Naturalist & author Patti Smith wonders how the beavers fared after Irene was done with them and wades out to check. Not only do her beavers have idyllic conditions, a compliant media and civic safety, they also have better luck. Her beavers survived the storm, she sees and feed them, one dam is saved, the lodge is preserved and she finds a new baby who moves mud with his nose. Then she lays out under the stars to nap.
Here I found three more beavers. When I sat down on the bank, two of them swam over eagerly, the two young beavers. I handed out apples and they settled down, making their proprietary squeaky whines. I then directed my attention to the third beaver, the one that approached uncertainly, the one with the very small tail, a new baby beaver! She swam up and prodded her siblings. They squeaked at her. She paddled over to the dam, ducked her head under the water, and came up with a pile of mud on her nose. She poked it onto the dam with all of the gravity and industry of her clan.
The only beaver missing was Bunchberry, the patriarch. For the past month he had been recovering from a wound inflicted in a territorial dispute. He could well be off surveying the damage or scouting for new dam sites. Still, even a beaver might have been seriously injured in that epic high water.
Night settled upon the pond with an intense blackness, and the universe sparkled above. I turned off my light and settled back to enjoy the perspective gained by a tour of deep space.
In an infinity of blazing stars and black holes the events of this little planet seem safe and predictable, even with the odd tropical storm. I returned to earth when I heard the hum of a rodent greeting. When I turned my flashlight on, I found a large damp beaver sitting beside me, hoping I’d brought him some rodent nuggets. Bunchberry had weathered the hurricane, too.
What a lovely article. Again. Thanks for letting us read about how beavers fared in Vermont. You know, Martinez Beavers may have no lodge, no mom, no protection, no naturalists, and no babies – they may have to put up with train whistles, homeless urine, city council, garbage trucks, beer drinkers and angry weed whackers.
But they have US and many more children who love them, and that’s got to count for something in this life and the next.
Happy Labor day to all our working and not-working beaver friends out there!
RUMFORD — Speculation ran rampant at Thursday night’s selectmen’s meeting that landowners, timber harvesting and beavers contributed to local road damage from Tropical Storm Irene’s heavy rains.
Maine law requires landowners to give the town permission to trap beavers. But that can only be done during the trapping season from December to March, unless the town pays for live trapping.
“These beavers have more rights than our citizens do,” Selectman Jolene Lovejoy said.
Goodness! I had NO idea residents could be trapped and killed off season in Maine. No wonder they’re upset. Selectman-(woman) Lovejoy should work to change that. Irene came in with her big wet tantrum and ruined everybody’s roads. Now they’re trying to figure out what could have been prevented. At the postmortem meeting Thursday night, this pearl of wisdom was discharged.
It’s possible I’m misreading the quote. But the message appears to be that it’s very inconvenient that beavers can only be killed at certain times of year. I agree. I guess it has to do with some nonsense about orphans and population. Since she goes on to say that beavers have MORE rights than citizens it must mean taxpayers can be killed year round?
Don’t say you weren’t warned Rumford.
I guess she-of-the-double-misnomer could be using hyperbolic language to make a dramatic point and viscerally connect with the voters. I guess instead of being a remark about there being no ‘take’ limit on residents it was actually a complaint that there are any restrictions whatsoever on beaver killing. Hmm, that would make more sense, but it would also make Ms. Lovejoy’s statement a complete and utter lie, since obviously residents have a great deal many more rights than beavers, (including the right not to be killed in their beds).
Which one is it, then, Jolene? Would you rather be described as threatening your voters or lying to them?
Huh. In the meantime, if you’d like to actually FIX the problem in stead of having a little finger-pointing party, you could bring in Mike or Skip to install a flow device at the offending beaver dam and safely lower the water level to protect your road. You can read all about these newfangled contraptions here.
And as for beavers having more protections than residents, I can only say that beavers raise the watertable, augment fish populations, increase migratory and songbird numbers, restore important game species and control and direct silt. I assume your voters don’t?
