Beaver Moon Upon Us

LK’s spiffy phone app tells us that tonight’s full moon is the “Beaver Moon”, which is a very cool thing for a phone App to tell you. Either its a remnant from the days of yore when you had to set your traps before it froze OR its a compassionate observation that beavers need to buckle down and get ready or the long winter. Either way it seems like a great occasion for an evening beaver festival and I dream of twinkling lights down at the dams with bonfires, carolers and hot chocolate.

But like all facts concerning beavers there is some controversy involved. Some tell us that the first full moon in November is the beaver moon, no matter what, full stop. Some are more prevaricating saying that this years Harvest moon was later, so this is actually the Hunter’s moon, and Beaver moon will be next. This website says that the Hunter’s moon is actually another name for the beaver moon, so what’s an urban skywatcher to do?

Here’s what they all agree on. Because of our lagging moon schedule we’ll have two full moons in the month of December, which means the second ones BLUE. Yes that’s right, on the last night of the last day of the last month of the last year of the “zeros” we will celebrate the “once in a blue moon” opportunity that you’ve been waiting for. Hmm. I have to make plans. In the meantime, be careful with that phrase, because the evening of a Blue Moon is coming.

I have some updates from friends: First from Robert Rust, the kindly soul who kayaks our creek and cleans up the beaver dams.

Then a note from beaver advocate in NJ who manages the website and nonprofit Unexpected Wildlife Refuge Inc. Seems she read my post about marketing Mike Callahan’s Beaver management videos and contacted him to offer help promoting them in her state. True to the name, this bit of unexpected generosity surprised Mike, and reminded me that other people read this website besides just my mother. Sarah later wrote to tell me about the Connecticut Connundrum I posted about later, and added this;

Ah, Sarah! We can’t wait for the day that we get another couple of 9 lb quadrapeds…sigh.

And finally we got this rumor from our history-buff friend in Los Altos.

Now this is an interesting rumor. I will keep sniffing around to follow that up. Happy Beaver Moon, (maybe!) and don’t forget to look up!