Last night’s trip to the dam was worthy of a David Attenborough documentary. There were three kits in prominent display, swimming, feeding, climbing, exploring. An older sibling whom everyone wanted to ride, and Mom hard at work on the dam with a tiny kit following her every mud-lifting move. His dialogue bubble could only have said “Whacha doin’?” as he followed her to the bank, down to get mud, and back to the secondary dam over and over again.
There were two unbelieveable moments. The first when our kit three caballeros climbed onto the bank and headed through the grasses towards the burned area next to the footbridge. Apparently there was a willow stump there that needed trimming. They stood on their back legs and reached up to strip the shoots. It was a lovely thing to see (and hear) at such close range.
The second breath-stealer came when mom and the kit who had followed her onto the dam climbed out to the same area, side by side. Their huge size difference had never been more visible. You could see her tail quite clearly and be sure it was mom, although there was absolutely no question when she headed straight for the fennel. The little one wasn’t sure how it all worked and still kept trying to climb on mom’s tail. Despite his interference, Mom got her fennel favorite, and a huge chunk of willow and carried them back to the water with little one scrambling behind.
Then she headed straight upstream, drawing the attention of all the kits who tried to follow and beg a ride or a bite. There was a 2nd of July beaver parade as she headed straight over the primary dam, with her trailing bounty, some greedy kits, and back into the lodge. (There are those of us who have theories about why she would head back into the lodge with food instead of just eating it herself, but we will keep them to ourselves for now.)
Visitors last night gathered around to watch, especially on their way to MuirFest 2008. (Last performance tonight! Don’t miss it!) The beaver ballet made for a nice opening act. One family of visitors were from Germany, staying with relatives, and had asked to see the “Bibers”. They had an opportunity for some fantastic pictures, and hopefully they’ll show up on the website soon. The European Beaver had to be reintroduced in Germany, but there are still only a handful. One of our strongest supporters reads the web page from Germany, and he made a pilgramage to America to meet Hope Ryden (author of the famous Lily Pond) and work a summer relocating beavers with Sherri Tippie. Through him we found out about the 2005 European Beaver Conference and this list of Beaver experts from around the world: its a fairly impressive who’s who.
All in an evening. The beaver chamber of commerce and conservation worked its magic and we got to watch. What could be better than that?
