Category: Beaver Chewing

Dam Builders: A review

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Educational, featured, Tail slap, Who's saving beavers now? July 19, 2015

It took longer to arrive than I had hoped. The publication was delayed several times and is still expected to be another 6 weeks for American readers. But this weighty record showing 30 years of beaver watching is definitely worth the wait.

I received my courtesy copy from the publisher Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd. last week, and have been engrossed ever since. Everything about this book is impressive: its stunning photographs, gripping account of little known beaver details, and its truly classy lay out, right down to the beaver silhouetted page number in the corner. (I had a good friend who was a copy editor at Random House and I know how much work pulling these details together can be.) I had prepared myself to be impressed, and was not disappointed.

What I hadn’t prepared for was to be surprised.

After nearly 10 years in the beaver biz, reading and writing about them daily, and viewing them regularly at very close quarters, I pretty much thought I had heard and seen it all. Michael Runtz book was still filled with gloriously unexpected treasures. From the amazing photograph of a beaver floating on its back (yes you read that right, not a sea otter, I swear, he speculates he might be picking a splinter from its teeth with its rear toe) to the exciting collection of facts about their lives, (did you know that when beavers breathe they replaces a whopping 75% of the oxygen in their lungs? Compared to the paltry human rate of 15%!) or that beaver tails in colder climates actually look different in the fall than the spring, depending on how much fat content they’ve lost from it over the winter? Something we’ll never see here in Martinez.

If some of the photos seem vaguely familiar they should, Runtz supplied his stills to Jari Osborne’s Beaver Documentary (Beaver Whisperer in Canada, and Nature’s “Leave it to Beaver” in America). My favorite chapters were those documenting beaver effects. First a lovely one showing the biodiversity that blooms in beaver ponds, with beautiful macro photography of gnats, insects, dragonflies, to featherlight photos of birds and water fowl, to richly-textured images of otter and moose you can practically feel. Then a beautifully solemn one about what happens to the trees beavers kill by flooding. (Showing excellent homes for a variety of woodpeckers, wood duck and blue heron). And finally a chapter on the pond’s “afterlife”, what happens when the pond silts up and beavers move on, as the flora take over and the fauna shift accordingly with the flourishing nutrient exchange. Honestly, I was almost in tears through these sections, feeling that they showed better than I ever could hope to explain how powerfully beavers impact biodiversity.

(I wanted to sit every contractor, public works crew, and politician down at the table and force them to look at every page. But that’s just me.)

Unlike this website, Runtz doesn’t “preach” the beaver gospel. He simply shows it and waits for readers to get the message. There is a short section covering beaver baffles, which is the Canadian flow device that has had good success. He doesn’t talk about the beaver deceiver or its offspring, but I was happy to see him acknowledge problems and explain their solution. A memorable passage describes the anticipation of sitting at a beaver pond before dawn and listening as it comes to life, comparing it to hearing a truly impressive symphony warm up in the darkness before a performance.

With over 200 pages containing stunning photos from one end to the other, this is a book you will look at again and again. I anticipated and missed a forward from some smart researcher like Glynnis Hood or Dietland Muller-Swarze, talking about why his photos are invaluable, but maybe this book isn’t trying to prove that beavers have value. It just shows you that they’re ‘worth a dam’ without ever saying it.

I was especially struck by the final paragraph, when he comments on how children’s minds would be enlivened by a beaver pond, if they could just put down their electronics long enough to get there. It made me think of these 100+ year-old words from my hero Enos Mills in his last chapter of “In Beaver World” where he calls beaver “the original conservationist”.

The works of the beaver have ever interested, the human mind. Beaver work may do for children what schools, sermons, companions and even home sometimes fail to do, – develop the power to think. No boy or girl can become intimately acquainted with the ways and works of these primitive folk without having the eyes of observation opened, and acquiring a permanent interest in the wide world in which we live.

The American version of this unforgettable book won’t be available until (hopefully) mid-september. If you can’t wait, there will be two copies available in the silent auction at our beaver festival. As far as I know they will be the only two copies on American soil in the entire country. I’m guessing that they will be very popular items, so get ready for the bidding war.

Cotton Farmers with a Tail

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beaver Chewing, Beavers, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? June 23, 2015

The Wonders Of Chemistry: Beavers, Beetles, And Cottonwoods

In the great stands of old cottonwood trees along prairie rivers, chemical skirmishes are taking place between beavers, cottonwoods, and a certain species of beetle. Beavers gnaw on the trees; the trees fight back with toxic compounds; and the beetles move in to feast on the toxins. But in this apparent conflict, all three species benefit.

The great stands of old cottonwood trees along the prairie rivers are called “gallery” forests, which aptly describes their spacious coolness and towering branches. Beaver favor cottonwoods for food and building material for their lodges. When beaver fell cottonwood trees, the roots often re-sprout, establishing clones of young trees from the same parent. Although this is another way for the cottonwoods to regenerate, these sprouts rarely do well enough to grow into large gallery forests.

Now we get to the subtle intrigue. Tom Whittam, an ecologist in Arizona, discovered that cutting and foraging by beaver induce young cottonwood sprouts to produce large amounts of salicins and salicortins – toxic compounds that deter many animals and insects from feeding on the sprouts.

Beaver also accumulate these compounds in their castoreum, a stinky musk beavers use for scent marking and, incidentally, perfumers traditionally used in colognes. The salicin compounds in the castoreum help the beaver attract a mate, like adding a little extra spice to the beaver’s own cologne.

So by pruning the cottonwood beavers actually cultivate their ideal target crop. Isn’t that just what you’d expect from beavers? They’re like farmers cultivating the perfect harvest. Since salicin is a main ingredient of Aspirin I bet it also helps with all those toothaches beavers must get on the job! I sure would like to see a gallery forest of cottonwood. It must sound amazing! (I used to call them ‘whispery trees‘.)

Here’s our farmer harvesting a little willow last night. Also rich in salicin by the way.

That’s a nice story of species coexistence. Just in time for another rabid beaver story. It’s officially summer you know.

Person bitten by suspected rabid beaver in Northern Harford, others may be exposed, health officials warn

Harford County health officials say a suspected rabid beaver bit a county resident on Friday afternoon in the Deer Creek Conservation Area off Sandy Hook Road in the Street area of Northern Harford.

Although the victim is receiving the appropriate post-exposure rabies treatments, health officials say they remain concerned that the beaver came into contact with at least one dog that belongs to another person, and they are trying to find the dog’s owner who may have also been exposed.

After biting the victim, the beaver quickly returned to the woods but might also have had contact around the same time of the other incident with a dog, believed to be a husky-chow mix, owned by another visitor to the park, the Health Department said.

I’m expecting this to blanket the news for the coming week. So the beaver wasn’t killed outright? That’s too bad because it means officials will just parole the area and kill every one they find. I’m never comfortable with these stories because they seem to coincide so much with kit time. I guess if rabies incubation is 3-6 weeks, and the beaver was bit by a rabid dog when protecting the lodge because the kits were just born, the timing is about right for the west. Not really for Connecticut though.

Here’s mom beaver last night with a willow bouquet. Definitely not rabid.

Guide to creeks and kits

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? June 11, 2015

Looks like the students in Imlay Michigan are studying the creek and getting an indirect lesson in what happens when beaver dams are removed.

Go with the flow

They dip a plastic spoon into the tub and come up with yet another discovery.

“We’ve found a water mite, a leech, black fly larvae, and a crayfish with only one pincher,” Angelika says, while another classmate—Daniel Felix—picks up the squirming crayfish to take a closer look.

The young scientists are in the fifth year of a collaborative project with Seven Ponds Nature Center naturalists and Imlay City Middle School. They’ll spend two days studying the Belle River as it runs through Imlay City’s backyard, and their findings will become part of a statewide study of the watershed.

“This year some changes were made at the headwaters,” Kent says. “A beaver dam was removed sometime between this year and last year”. Young scientist Ivan Sanchez makes his decision early on. Ivan participates in soccer practices at Lions Park, so he’s noticed a big difference in what the river looks like since the beaver dam has been removed.

“It was so beautiful last season and now it looks a lot different, there’s a lot of sediment that wasn’t there before,” Ivan says.

That’s right children. Because beaver dams make creeks beautiful, alive and ecologically diverse. And removing them makes things ugly and dead and sterile. That should be the most important lesson you take from this experiment.

I had fun last night taking a ‘will you stop watering your lawn’ telephone poll, because after I waded through all the somewhats, mostlys and not verys I got to give a comment about what California should do to save water, and GUESS what I said??? I’ll give you a hint. It’s the kind of hint you should take with you to the store.

Yesterdays anomaly rain actually filled the dam to bursting but it was still holding when Jon checked last night. Rusty and Robin are having great fun documenting their beavers even if we aren’t lucky yet in Martinez. Tomorrow I will leave you in Rusty’s capable hands because I’ll be away. But stay tuned, because I know he will have your attention with photos like these:

kit with tripod — Kit in Tulocay Creek praying – Rusty Cohn

For her part, Robin made sure that the unverified kit who hightails it to the dam each night instead of posing with his siblings, was documented as an actual kit.

Isn’t this lovely? For those new to the kit vs adult ID game clues are

How he floats (entirely above the waterline while with adults usually swim with just their head is visible)
The relative head size to body (about a third, when adults is a fifth or more)
And of course the fact that it’s adorable. Which should be a dead giveaway.

His relative speed indicates he is a little frightened of this wide world, even though he’s heading off to play with the big beavers. Who knows, maybe he’s braver than the others? Or maybe he’s a big scaredy-pants who always wants to be with a grown-up? Perspective is everything.

Beavers: The future and the past

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? June 10, 2015

Let’s start out with some momentous news. Last night in Napa they almost certainly saw three kits. HURRAY THREE KITS!!! One appears to charge off with the adults to feed, so missed his photo opportunity in his rush to maturity, but they are pretty sure it’s a brave little kit they’re seeing. Congratulations Napatopia, we’re excited for you!

Now its on to some inspiration from our great friend Camilla Fox who lent full ‘Project Coyote‘ voice recently to the Bobcat hearing in Santa Rosa. Great work team bobcat!

Finally an update and a short poll. I know you all recognize the fellow on the left, but the gentleman on the right might be less familiar to our new readers. This is Alex Hiller a beaver supporter from Germany who once came to america to visit a beaver family with Hope Ryden of the famed Lily Pond book. Alex was an early and dedicated supporter and attended the beaver symposium in Lithuania, shocking the heck out of Skip and Glynnis by wearing his Worth A Dam t-shirt shown here.

I hadn’t heard from Alex in a while and I thought I’d send him the Geo article in case he hadn’t seen it and wanted to help with a translate. This morning he wrote back sighting an old German saying, “Some people you assume to have perished only got married.” He announced that he met and married a wonderful woman from Sri Lanka who was passionate about elephants so they were focusing their energies there for the time being. How cool is that? Congratulations Alex! We wishing you every happiness but we will miss our reliable foreign correspondent!

Lastly. if we were offering recycled bags for sale at the festival would you prefer a green bag with a logo or a khaki bag with this in brown? I like them both so you’re vote is needed. Let me know here. Thanks!

Neighbors that are good for you, vs good neighbors.

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions May 25, 2015

It was Mary Obrien who inspired this graphic, back during her pod cast interview when she said abandon beaver sites were like ghost towns.

Now it looks like the National Trust in Scotland got the memo!

NTS backs re-introduction of beavers to Scotland

Despite acknowledging that they’re not always “good neighbours”, the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has become the latest organisation to add its voice to calls for wild beavers to be re-introduced to the country.

In a policy statement published today, NTS describes the Eurasian Beaver as a “a key element of our native fauna” and says its introduction will bring “many significant benefits to Scotland’s countryside, in terms of restoring native ecosystems, contributing to biodiversity, enhancing natural wetland processes, and promoting tourism”.

“The beaver is a crucial element in our countryside which plays an important role in the conservation of other wildlife,” said NTS’s Nature Advisor Lindsay Mackinlay. “Conservationists call it a keystone species because its presence has such a major impact on the natural environment and its wildlife. Scotland is currently much the poorer without it.“

Hooray for Scotland! And hooray for the free beavers on the river Tay and all their supporters. This was truly a major accomplishment at almost every level; research, outreach, education and public subversion. Honestly I couldn’t be happier for them, and even thought it’s not yet official, its looking like the anglers will have to put up with the flat-tails.

Our own beavers were kinder to us last night, with four visible including Dad and Jr. We were treated to a full show because there was a newish mom with 11 baby ducks, a turtle, two green herons roosting in the tree, and a fair amount of beavers! It’s wonderful to be back in the season of life again, but we’re all impatient for kits.

Rusty sent this photo Saturday, which Peter Moyle was kind enough to ID as a large mouth bass getting eaten by a night heron. He said he is always happy when a native predator eats a nonnative one.