Category: pictures

MIKE DIGOUT GETS BEAVER FAME

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers, pictures February 11, 2022

There are few things I enjoy more than stories of nice people whose lives were completely transformed by beavers. It’s sort of a motiff I understand, so to speak. So this story of our buddy Mike Digout made me grin from ear to ear.

Bridges: Mike Digout builds online following for befriending beavers

On April 1, 2020, Digout spotted a beaver in the river and decided to follow it to see where it would take him.

“There was a beaver lodge, and there was like five or six beavers swimming around. And I was so fascinated,” he recalls. After that sighting, Digout started going out every evening, searching for beavers along the river so he could observe and photograph them.

A few months into his beaver-watching hobby, after spraining an ankle while looking for beavers, Digout decided to check out a beaver pond along the Meewasin Trail, about 500 metres north of the University Bridge.

“The second I was there, a beaver crossed the sidewalk a few feet from me, and then I was hooked.”

Isn’t that a great beginning? It seems lately like all my favorite stories start exactly the same way!

Digout now goes to the beaver pond daily in nice weather. He still watches for beavers along the river in the winter, when the pond has frozen over, but the pond has become his favourite place.

“I know if I go sit at the beaver pond at dusk, it’s only going to be a few minutes before I get to see some beavers.”

Digout has gained enough of a social media following with the photos and videos he shares that people all over Saskatoon are familiar with him.

“It’s kind of exciting. It’s like we have a celebrity and we ask him for his autograph sometimes,” his wife Dawne says.

His youngest son, Zach, who attends the University of Saskatchewan, has often met people who recognize Digout.

“He always gets a kick when people realize his dad is the beaver guy or ‘Saskatoon bald guy’ on Reddit. He really likes the attention that my beaver hobby has given me,” Digout says.

Ahh the beaver celebrity! Martinez sure made it’s share of them. I’m sure Moses remembers those days fondly.

Digout loves to share his beaver knowledge and observations with families out on the trail.

“I get to point out things that I know about from being there every day and help the children spot the beavers and show them their dams and the lodge and tell them about things,” he says.

Through his hobby, Digout has learned a lot about these semi-aquatic rodents. A recent discovery is how harmful artificial lights, like a camera flash, can be to nocturnal animals at night.

After sharing a night video from the beaver pond on social media, Digout was contacted by a few members of a beaver-related Facebook discussion group. They told him about studies showing the harm of these lights, which led him to read more about it.

“Their eyes are just not designed for bright lights at night. It can disorient them, it can temporarily cause them to have vision issues, and it can mess with their natural cycles if there’s light when there’s not supposed to be,” he explains.

I don’t actually have any memory of that discussion. Or real faith in it. I saw our beavers respond to artificial light – or more pointedly NOT respond to it – and they chose to live near street lights and a train station so it couldn’t have been that upsetting. Besides old trapping journals describe beavers sunning themselves on their lodges so light can’t be THAT much of a problem.

During the pandemic lockdown in 2020, Digout and his wife were working from home. Two of their four sons were also home, working on university classes.

“It was quite crowded,” Digout recalls. “Me leaving the house for a couple of hours was really good for all of us.”

Dawne says it was especially beneficial to her in the evenings when she would get some time alone.She adds that the family can see how happy this hobby makes Digout.

“Sometimes his pictures are amazing and these experiences that he’s had are amazing,” she says.

Ahh I like the family angle. Good to include the misses and the 4 sons.

Digout shares his content on dedicated Facebook and Instagram pages, a YouTube channel where he shares his best videos and a Reddit account, where he posts less often.

“I always laugh when I get referred to as a photographer or a wildlife photographer because I’ve never considered myself that,” he says.

Digout sometimes gets negative feedback online from people who don’t like beavers in the city and find them a nuisance.

“I respect those opinions. I completely understand why someone would be upset if a beaver took down a beautiful tree. My own take is the beavers were here long before the people, and it’s hard to begrudge them being beavers and doing what their instincts tell them to do.

Well I don’t respect those opinions if that’s any surprise. Disliking beavers for chewing trees is like disliking florists for digging up the ground. They have a job to do. And its a beautiful job.

Digout gets the occasional comment from someone accusing him of harassing the beavers or invading their space.

“I usually just explain I am in their habitat, but I make a point of trying never to be in their way or upsetting them.”

Digout hopes his content helps people to appreciate the beavers in Saskatoon the way he does.

“I hope that people realize what beautiful, unique, interesting animals beavers are. And I hope that people realize that they can coexist in our urban environment.”

“It’s a great educational opportunity … Beaver ponds are exciting places. Beaver don’t hibernate, so they are out all winter long. And you might get a chance to see some amazing nature right in the heart of our city.”

Yup. I couldn’t agree more. Thanks Mike.

AMAZING DAM PHOTOS

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers, featured, pictures January 22, 2021

It’s time to start thinking of the next hurdle. And start getting my video together for the upcoming Valentine’s presentation at Oakmont Syposiumwith Bob Boucher. I am happy about the timing because it’s a great opportunity to plug the Summit which is coming soon thereafter, In the meantime he sent me some awesome photos for the website that I thought you’d want to peruse.

Feb 14, 2021– 10:30 am on Zoom
Bob Boucher and Heidi Perryman

Beavers: Conservationists Who Mate for Life

Happy Valentine’s Day! And the perfect animals to celebrate are beavers. Why? They mate happily for life. And not only is that kind of cool, but they are also a “keystone” animal. When these resilient critters aren’t around, the ecology doesn’t work right; when they are around, life thrives. Beavers are unsung heroes that shaped our country in more ways than one. Bob Boucher and Heidi Perryman, an “accidental beaver advocate” and will charm us with their fascination for these amazing animals.

You can tell already the talk is going to be pretty dam fantastic.

MISTAKEN IDENTITIES FOR SALE

heidi08 Beavers, pictures January 3, 2021

Well this is ironic.

I am working with Bruce Mushrush the designer who has been kind enough to agree to set up the website for the CA beaver summit. He is the man who started this very website of his own accord lo these any years ago and happens to be the husband of Georgette Howington of the bluebird recovery program that brightens our every festival every year. After agreeing on the domain name and some other details he sent me some stock photos he has access too and wondered whether they’d work. Guess how many were Nutria.

Go ahead guess.

Not his fault in any way of course. They were clearly labeled as photos of beavers. And most people aren’t freaks of nature that spend hours looking at images of actual beavers so they know the difference. Nutria, groundhog, muskrat, even a capybara. And these are photos you PAY FOR. Now we know why all the media outlets use the wrong photos all the dam time. I said no no no. We have the very best photos and we don’t need to use anyone else’s. Suzi very nicely offered for us to use hers and Cheryl’s are perfect. Hopefully Rusty will help too.

Stock footage of wanna beavers. Sheesh!

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SISU MAJAVA

heidi08 Beavers and Forests, Beavers elsewhere, pictures June 11, 2020

Hot diggety dam! Today is going to be a great day, can’t you feel it? What am I saying. it is a great day already! Guess what our friends at Phys.org wrote about yesterday? An actual article about beaver science! Not just one that actually describes what beavers do every day and doesn’t give them any credit. And stay until the end because as good as the article is, something EVEN BETTER happened last night.

Beavers are diverse forest landscapers

Beavers are ecosystem engineers that cut down trees to build dams, eventually causing floods. Beaver-induced floods make forest landscapes and habitats increasingly diverse, but very little is known about the long-term effects of beavers on European landscapes. Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Helsinki examined the history and occurrence of beaver-induced floods and patch dynamics in southern Finland. They used a unique dataset of field observations from 1970 to 2018.

Go on…I’m listening…

“Beavers can help to restore wetland ecosystems and entire boreal forests, and they also help in conserving the biodiversity of these environments,” researcher Sonja Kivinen from the University of Eastern Finland says.

Oh yeah, baby. That’s what I’m talking about. They sure can. I assume Castor Fiber? Not in Finland.

The European beaver was hunted to extinction in the 19th century Finland. Nowadays, the study area is home to thewhich was introduced there in the 150s. The American beaver builds similar dams as the European one.

Oh that’s so sweet. So this article is about OUR beaver. Remember that.

“The spread of the beaver in our study area has created a diverse and constantly changing mosaic of beaver ponds and beaver meadows of different ages,” Kivinen says.

The researchers observed that the number of beaver-induced flood sites grew by more than 11-fold over the study period. In addition to creating new flood sites, beavers also often use old sites to cause new floods. The duration of an individual flood and the frequency of floods can vary greatly between different flood sites, resulting in an abundance of habitat patches with different environmental conditions.

“Thanks to beaver activity, there is a unique richness of wetlands in the forest landscape: flowages dominated by bushes, beaver meadows, and deadwood that can be used by various other species,” university lecturer Petri Nummi from the University of Helsinki says.

Credit where credit is do! Yes that is exactly what beavers do better than anyone else. Thanks so much for noticing! Shh this is my favorite part:

Indeed, beaver-induced disturbances are more predictable in diversifying the forest landscape than for example forest fires or storms.

Well, at least they like them in Finland! Beavers might be killed in Scotland and Russia and America but some Fins apparently know what a good thing looks like. I’m told the country has no official motto, but the unofficial slogan is “Sisu, Sauna and Sibelius“. Sibelius is their famous composer. Sauna is the soaking hot bath that we all know and love.. And Sisu is a Finnish concept described as “stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness and is held by Finns themselves to express their national character.”

Umm…like a beaver.

Ready for the good local news from last night? This was photographed by a neighbor in her backyard a few blocks up the creek from where I live. She said the beaver was awkward and moving weirdly. That sure looks to me like a beaver trying to haul down a big tree he might have cut from up on the bank.

Gee I wonder why would a beaver do that?

THE DOW IS TURNING UP FOR BEAVERS!

heidi08 pictures May 30, 2020

One of my favorite things about watching beavers. and there are a lot as you well know. is meeting people who are surprised to see them for the first time. The first thing they always say is ‘OMG they’re so big!!!’ Well last week a wildlife photographer in Antioch got to see it for himself. And he was so excited he wrote me and wanted to share.

Meet Patrick Page.

There is a sorry little discharge pond adjacent to the railroad tracks. It is round and no bigger than a backyard swimming pool. Currently it is covered in a raft of soft algae. Kirker Creek runs south to north along the west boundary of the wetlands and spills into this pond especially during rains. A concrete spillway drains the water from the creek to the pond. There is sort of a rough concrete rim around the near side of the pond studded with large rocks. I was walking around the rim looking for critters or herons that sometimes frequent the creek which is overgrown with bushes and grasses. I saw a large, brown, furry animal moving around slowly in the creek. It climbed the bank and was eating grasses there. The photos were difficult because it was mostly obscured by the vegetation. At first I thought it was Nutria and then realized it was a beaver.

Gosh I’d recognize that nose anywhere! How exciting. That’s a nice adult beaver. I can just tell this is going to be good.

I was still standing on the left rim of the pond just above the spillway with my dog when suddenly the beaver bolted past us much to the surprise to the dog and launched himself through the air and completely over the spillway and did a loud belly flop on to the top of the pond. All stretched out during that leap showed how big he was.

He then cruised around then became annoyed with the paparazzi (me and my camera) and did a couple loud tail slaps so I sat down and made myself quiet and small. I had the dog right next to me and she thought it was all very strange. The beaver settled down and did a few laps around the pond, forgetting about me and the dog for 10 minutes then hauled himself out to dry off and groom himself for a while on the bank. It was all quite thrilling because in the years I’ve been going there I never once spotted a beaver. He was rather large too. Must’ve been 65 lbs. Bigger than my dog and she’s about that. The whole episode lasted 20 minutes from the creek to the pond and it was close to dark when I had to quit shooting.

A beaver that does a belly flop is a beaver that got scared of your quiet arrival and was surprised to find out he had company! How exciting! Remember beavers don’t have great eyes, and it was probably your scent that gave you away all at once when it got to him. And the dog’s. I’m glad he was close to you.

Just so you know this is definitely not a nutria. Good lord don’t even say the word nutria out loud in Antioch.

Now I’m a woman who believes in coincidence, but isn’t it remarkable that this beaver turned up in this area where he had not been seen by this photographer ever before? These wetlands are about 6 miles From big Break and about 7 miles from the Marsh Creek site where they just got evicted. Hmm, isn’t that interesting?

I actually got a little worried about the damp mark on his left side. Do we think it might be an injury?

I asked Patrick to check over his photos for anything better or larger but in the meantime we should just be VERY HAPPY that there are beavers at Dow Wetlands again. And people who share their terrific photos with us. Thanks Patrick! Let’s hope you get photos of kits soon!