Month: December 2016

Room at the Inn for beavers?

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Tail slap, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? December 26, 2016

Ho Ho Ho! It’s boxing day and you know the drill, lazy leftovers and trying out/on our presents. A million years ago I used to be so bummed after christmas that I’d hide away one present just so I could have it to look forward to. But now I’m just really happy I gave things people enjoyed and all the details came together. And I received a present that made me weep because I loved it so much, so I count myself very beaver-blessed. It was made for me by artist Natalie Blake who also did the tiles at Chabot College. How remarkable is that? The first beaver I ever saw was from my canoe. (On Big River in mendocino 1992 – a sudden tailslap and a territorial swim-by) It was such a new thing to see I didn’t even know what it was for sure. We had seen many otters, so I might have wondered do river otters ever slap their tails? Exploring by canoe was my favorite thing before beavers became my favorite thing, so this will be treasured.

Our beaver dinner is new year’s day and the ravioli’s are all made and tucked in the freezer. Only beaver cookies left to make. Worth A Dam regulars, Creek Champions from Oakland, Rusty from Napa and this year the brave Caitlin of Mountain House will all be coming to celebrate a new beaver year. I try to invite those who have done amazing things and those who I want to continue doing amazing things. Beaver encouragement dinner is how I think of it.

Meanwhile England is still trying to decide if there is room for beavers at the inn.

England’s wild beaver colony has kits

A female from the first wild beaver colony in England for centuries has given birth to at least two young. New footage shows the kits being helped through the water by their mother. The images taken in Devon by local filmmaker Tom Buckley provide the first evidence of the new arrivals.

The Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) said the slowly expanding population would help to provide an insight into their effect on the surrounding River Otter system in east Devon. The Angling Trust warned that a population increase could have detrimental effects on other wildlife.

Mark Elliott, from the DWT, said: “We are thrilled that the beavers have bred. The baby kits appear fit and healthy … This tells us that the beavers are very much at home in this corner of Devon.”

The two females were found to be pregnant when they were taken in to captivity to be tested for disease. It’s not thought that the other female has yet had her kits.

There is an increasing prospect of a population explosion that could do considerable harm to other wildlife through the uncontrolled damming up of watercourses which can, among other things, prevent fish from reaching their spawning grounds,” he said.

“This irresponsible programme should never have begun and it won’t be long before the substantial sums spent in other European countries in dealing with problems caused by beavers will be required here in the UK.”

But Friends of the Earth campaigner Alasdair Cameron said: “[Beavers] bring huge benefits to the countryside – boosting biodiversity and keeping the rivers clean – we’re delighted that they are back and doing well.”

Wow, the villain from central casting is being really well played by that silly angler. Lord knows he’s never once given an interview about protecting wildlife before but NOW because he believes his fish dinners is threatened, he’s guarding the gate with a musket. Down boy, beavers are actually GOOD NEWS for wildlife AND FISH which you would know if you ever read anything except for the tripe published in the Angler’s bible. In the meantime let’s celebrate that baby beaver and get over yourself.

Christmas for Beavers

heidi08 Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water December 25, 2016

Merry Christmas! The present I got you is one-of-a-kind and really hard to find. It’s a nice article from a property-owner who enjoys the beavers in his pond and is having fun watching them. No need to thank me. The look on your face is thanks enough.

A crash course in beaver denizenery

When three beavers in our Back 50 pond whacked their tales – in unison, no less – I was smitten.

***Beavers on the pond: When three beavers in Denis Grignon’s Back 50 pond whacked their tales – in unison, no less – he was smitten***

From my lawn chair on shore, they’re always entertaining. Industrious. Patient. Determined. Funny.

Hey, the internet is spotty in our parts and this is 4D TV – without the cumbersome pick-and-pay contract.

My recent fascination with them coincided with what would become our worst drought in decades. Our pond’s about the length of a football field – the larger Canadian field, fittingly, given its inhabitants, eh.

As the water level dropped drastically, it resembled a large puddle dotted with what appeared to be about a dozen beaver lodges. But were there really more lodges than in previous years? Or had the receding water simply made them more visible?

Ahh, Denis! I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to read about someone actually watching beavers instead of just trapping them because they’re a nuisance. He’s located in Peterborough, across Lake Ontario from New York. Maybe he has benefited from our friends in the area? I myself started watching beavers a million years ago because they were ‘cool’ to watch and I was curious about them. It opened the door for learning and helped me be forever hooked.

Seems Denis is watching them during a drought year, while the pond shrinks. This makes several other lodges visible that he hadn’t noticed before. He wonders whether more beavers move into a pond in drought and whether there will be competition.What he doesn’t realize, is that beavers don’t ‘go’ where there’s water, they more or less make water wherever they ‘go’. Beaver ponds in drought contained 9 times more water than equivalent ponds without beaver according to Dr. Glynnis Hood’s Alberta research. For the most part, the strange thing is he asks people who tell him the right answer. Go figure.

“You probably already know that beavers are territorial,” Lisa Soloman, a management biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), told me.

Uh, no. I didn’t. But go on, I pleaded.

“All beavers in a pond are related,” she continued, explaining that a pair will breed, keep their three to five “kits” nearby for about two years, then send them off to university or to teach English overseas.

So my pond is not overcrowded. And those additional lodges I thought I saw are, according a friend and hunter, merely failed construction attempts.

Is there anything, then, I can do to ensure a second season of my backyard reality TV?

“I would say nothing!” says Soloman. “This is how nature works. If the conditions aren’t good for them, they may not survive or they may disperse…But if it’s good habitat, new beavers can move in and claim the unoccupied territory.”

Wow, not only is Denis enjoying them now, he wants them to stay next year. I appreciate Lisa Solomon’s mostly accurate advice. But I disagree with one part. ‘Nature’ is no longer the thing that decides whether beavers will stick around or not. Human interest is. And if you’re happy to have those little flat-tails as your neighbors I would say the odds of them sticking around are very, very good.

You might also plant a little willow from cuttings around the pond’s edge. Good for the pond anyway and the beavers will help keep it thriving. Happy watching!

Speaking of beaver lodges, I thought this was a great photo of the one Suzi Eszterhas took in Napatopia. How’s that for ‘Nature in the City’? Happy Christmas!

Beaver Eve

heidi08 Beavers December 24, 2016

Winter Greetings and Beavers

heidi08 Beavers and Forests, Beavers and water, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? December 23, 2016

Yesterday the coordinator of Sulpher Springs Wildlife Course called me and wanted to arrange a class around a beaver visit. I sadly had to tell her we had no beavers to visit at the moment, and she was very disappointed. It reminded me that there are so many things I miss about not having beavers: following family members, seeing them build and interact, being surprised ever time I would visit the dam and seeing all the new wildlife drawn to our urban creek.

But of all the things I miss this may be the most poignant. That view of the big nose heading your way. I just love this photo Suzi! Thank you so much for bringing the moment to life and making it ours forever. There are many things we will have in our memories for a lifetime, but that is one of my favorite.

And just in case we’re feeling sad about the loss of what was, here’s a treat from our Napa friends. No matter what kind of beaver-missing holiday blues might experience, every time I see this I start giggling. It’s not hard to know where this photo came from, that’s for sure. I mean, if your indexing system was mixed up accidentally and you didn’t know what photos came from where, and you saw THIS photo: you would instantly remember.Napatopia is so proud of their curve-tailed beavers they’re even mentioned in the RCD end of the year film which Robin sent my way. Two beaver moments include a photo by Hank and a photo of measuring the dam.

Some nice wintry writing from Vermont as usual, this by columnist Faith Gong for the Addison County Independent.

Faith in Vermont: A Thank-You to Snow

Snow refreshes our view of the world’s beauty.

Stare at any one scene long enough and, no matter how beautiful, it will become commonplace. I am thankful for the large picture window over our kitchen sink, through which I look out over a rolling field surrounded by towering trees. But after several months of seeing this same gorgeous scenery multiple times a day, I was starting to take it for granted.

Enter winter, and snow: With the leaves off the trees, the weeds reduced to sparse, dried stalks, and the smooth snow revealing paths where once there were none, my daughters and I set off one afternoon to explore.

We began at the beaver pond, which was frozen enough to uphold careful walking (with occasional feet-through-the-ice incidents providing just the right amount of adrenaline-pumping excitement.) We located the mound of the beavers’ house, where the beavers overwinter in cozy burrows dug beneath the muddy banks. Then we followed the frozen stream, a tributary of Muddy Branch, about 500 meters south.

It turns out that “our” beaver pond is part of a network of beaver ponds, with impressive dams blocking the water in at least three spots along the stream. We saw the tracks of deer, rabbits, birds, and mid-sized mammals (Coyote? Bobcat? House cat? We enjoyed speculating.) We found an enormous tree, easily a century old, which dangled huge gnarled branches into the frozen pond below. My daughter climbed one of these branches and found an old board nailed across the bottom boughs, remnants of somebody’s old hunting stand.

It was another world, but it had been there all along, just a few yards from our house. And without the snow, we could never have accessed it so easily.

Now, my thoughts will often slip across the field, past the trees and the old barbed wire fence, to where the beavers busily fell trees and build their houses and dams, the deer drink from the stream, and the bobcats hunt for food. They haven’t heard the latest news of political intrigue, atrocities of war, or sick relatives, and they don’t care. They’re just doing what they do, and what they’ll go on doing after today’s news is older than that huge old tree.

Somehow, I find this immensely comforting.

Why is the entire state of Vermont so sanguine and wise about beavers? It can’t just be Skip Lisle, or Patti Smith. I think we should all have maple syrup on our pancakes and think about that for a moment. I almost never write mean things about Vermont misunderstanding beavers. Thank you for this lovely column and many, many others.

Speaking of wintry things I enjoy, at the moment I’m completely mesmerized by Kisima Innitchuya. And I’m guessing at least one of the readers of this will be too. I’m not a big gamer so I started off by getting killed by a polar bear several times in many interesting ways, but it is so magical to be friended by the white fox and employ my spirit guides that I don’t mind trying again. The Innuit narrations and cultural guides you ‘earn’ are brilliant and magical. And the tribal voices telling stories are really wonderful. Maybe I’ll even meet a beaver?

At a whopping 99 cents its a luxury you can probably afford, and it’s worth every penny.

Save

Beaver Information Airdrop

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers and water, City Reports, Environmental, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's Killing Beavers Now? December 22, 2016

Colonel Gail Seymour “Hal” Halvorsen is best known as the “Berlin Candy Bomber” who dropped candy to children during the Berlin airlift from 1948 to 1949. Sometimes you need to sneak things into the people you want to have them, because they are surrounded by obstacles.

When I saw this report I wanted to Airdrop information to the poor besieged sufferers in North Carolina. Obviously the state is steeped in closely protected beaver ignorance from head to tail. I’m think we’d drop a package with Mike’s DVD and Dietland Muller-Schwarze beaver book with a little bag of sand and a can of latex paint to teach them how to protect trees. They obviously need all the help they can get.

And no, I’m not exaggerating.

Hurricane Matthew presents ongoing beaver issue in Lenoir County

So the good folk of Kingston believe that the hurricane brought beavers like a kind of ‘beavernado’ and if they dig enough holes in the dam they’ll find them. They wonder why they’ve never seen the culprits in the day time. And think trapping is the only way to stop them. When I’m finished slapping my forehead you should fire up the airplanes because something tells me Mr. Davis and the newscaster need an airdrop right away.

I noticed a very cool thing about one of Suzi’s photos yesterday. In addition to top and bottom teeth, (which is very rare in a photo) you can actually see the grooming claw if you look closely. I’ve only place I have ever seen this before in a dead beaver that we could photograph closely. This is obviously much, much better.

It’s almost my favorite day, Christmas Eve Eve – an underappreciated holiday with all of the seasonal charm and none of the social pressure. I will give you a Suzi Eszterhas treat. Hohoho!