Category: kits

Beavers Unlimited

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, kits, Who's saving beavers now? July 2, 2015

Just in case you’re not sure I’m telling the truth about four kits, here’s the proof. Junior comes from the left for size comparison. One of the kits is a little meanie. I’m waiting for mom or dad to straighten him out.

We didn’t have to wait long to see all four. Hoping they agree to stay upstream through the fourth.

Now, as promised we can finally return to the fantastic Beaver article from Ducks Unlimited. It’s definitely worth our time.

Understanding Waterfowl: Beaver Ponds and Breeding Ducks – Growing beaver populations have created an abundance of high-quality habitat for waterfowl

“We have mined the northland, not for wheat, not for gold—but for fur. Now the fur seed is gone.”

Those words were spoken in 1938 by Ducks Unlimited Canada’s first general manager, Tom Main. He was relating his ideas about how to resolve the challenges facing waterfowl as DU began its first year of operation. Main and many others believed that beaver ponds were an integral component of the original habitat that once produced sky-darkening flocks of waterfowl. By the time DU started its conservation work, however, nearly all the beavers and the millions of ponds they had created along the continent’s rivers and streams were gone.

Research has verified that beaver ponds provide important habitat for waterfowl. In a large study conducted by DU in the Clay Belt region of Ontario, the most abundant breeding duck in beaver pond–rich forests was the mallard. Other common breeding ducks on beaver ponds include cavity-nesting wood ducks, hooded mergansers, buffleheads, and common goldeneyes. Beaver ponds also provide breeding habitat for American black ducks, blue- and green-winged teal, American wigeon, and ring-necked ducks.

Beaver populations have now expanded across the United States. In many areas, especially in the West, beavers are increasingly viewed as key partners in the restoration of diverse plant and animal communities. Beaver ponds provide vital habitat for many species of fish, amphibians, and birds while also conserving threatened water supplies and moderating downstream flooding.

But what effect do beavers have on continental waterfowl populations? DU and others have long chronicled and fought the loss of wetlands important to waterfowl. Despite all our efforts, the net loss of wetlands has continued and even accelerated on the continent’s most important waterfowl breeding, migration, and wintering areas.

As natural wetlands have declined, man-made water bodies such as reservoirs, storm-water retention basins, borrow pits, and golf course ponds have increased on the landscape. Many man-made ponds and lakes are of limited value to waterfowl, although they do serve some wetland functions. DU and its conservation partners restore, enhance, and protect high-quality natural wetlands that provide crucial habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife. As nature’s wetland engineers, beavers are in the same business, and they do all the work themselves.

Beavers truly are a partner in wetlands restoration and maintenance, just as Tom Main had hoped they would be over 75 years ago.

High praise from a powerful lobby. I’m sure a lot of us might have mixed feelings about DU. (They want lots and lots of ducks to grow up big and strong so they can go out and shoot them.) But DU has done literally more wetlands restoration than we can imagine. They put their money where their guns are, and as a result they have saved many of the very species they are interested in hunting. They really are conservationists. Not my kind maybe, but conservationists all the same.

And they love beavers because they help them do this work. And that’s a big deal.

Not to hog all the camera time, Rusty sent a wonderful photo this week of an otter truly enjoying all that Tulocay beaver pond has to offer.

close your mouth — Close your mouth when you chew – photo Rusty Cohn

One more film from last night. This was heart-meltingly beautiful. Love mom’s foot in this video. Reminds me of a Degas painting.

The yearly beaver census

heidi08 kits, Who's saving beavers now? June 30, 2015

Do you know that feeling that Christmas night when you’ve already opened all the presents from all the relatives and been excited and/or disappointed all day in regular intervals. And after you reach way back in the pile to get your last aunt’s or second cousins gifts you find ONE FINAL PRESENT with your name on it. A present that you never knew about! A sudden opportunity to increase your haul and erase the disappointing socks or whatever you never wanted in the first place. You thought christmas was over. And here it is suddenly starting again!

Guess what Cheryl and Jean saw four of yesterday? I’ll give you a hint. It has fur, ears and a tiny tail. That’s right they saw FOUR kits instead of the lucky three we thought we had. Four is a lot! We haven’t had that many since 2008. It’s been seven long years since we had four new kits to fuss over and worry about. Here is one of our favorite mornings of all times, before the city decided to kill the beavers, before Worth A Dam, before I knew anything about websites or beavers. This was so long ago that I don’t even have the footage anymore, I didn’t know how to save it back them. We were just watching something wonderful in the town where we happened to live.

Four is the product of a strong healthy mom and a calorie-rich habitat, which I was starting to think the beavers had worn down. Especially since we only got a single kit last year. Encroaching phragmites or not there must be some feeding going on, because a beaver that has four babies is well fed. That brings our current count to NINE! Mom, Dad, 2 two-year olds, Junior and FOUR KITS! We’ve only had nine once before!

Wow, that bank hole must be crowded!

I guess during that early video from Moses one must have been still asleep? and missed out on the swimming lesson? I can’t wait to see four for myself and find out what this unexpected edition has in store!

I noticed that my letter to the editor was published in the Gazette. I was greatly annoyed by the loss of the fallen tree, when so many other nuisances are allowed to accumulate in the creek and this seemed like the best way to say it.

The tale of the invisibility park

Once upon a time there was a town with a patch of green that stretched between the creek and corp yard where everything that occurred became magically invisible. No one knew why.

At any hour of the day homeless, transients and criminals could drink alcohol, smoke weed, huff, sell drugs or even examine the contents of stolen property and even the police who visited would avert their eyes because the park, and everything that happened there, was invisible. Maintenance never disturbed the layers of trash, sleeping bags or empty bottles strewn there and the creek was allowed to become cluttered with debris.

Meanwhile, 30 feet away, a still living tree that had leaned into the water, providing food and shelter for birds, fish and beavers, was swiftly removed at considerable city expense. Because unlike the other miles of creek littered with shopping carts and tires, this particular section was NOT invisible.

– Heidi Perryman

Any time I can express public disapproval of the city’s ridiculous actions creatively enough to avoid looking mean, I’m a happy, happy girl.

Everything old is new again

heidi08 Beavers, Educational, kits, Who's saving beavers now? June 29, 2015

The first time, ever I saw your face from Heidi Perryman on Vimeo.

Things are looking familiar down at the beaver dam. Three kits and at least four adults in residence, plus Junior. It all makes for some pretty exciting beaver viewing. Not to mention that apparently five out of the six new pairs of kit eyes are developing conjunctivitis just like the old days…Sheesh. Rickipedia pointed out that the e coli in Palo Alto streams all starts with grazing cattle in the upper watershed. And I bet that’s how our beavers got unlucky again. Another reason to dislike cows near open water. Funny that everyone assumes it’s the city life and chemicals that give our beavers a hard time, when its really the wide open spaces with cows.

Here the new kit is feeding alongside mom and dad. You can even see mom remind him of his manners. I particularly love how fully the kit is part of their lives. He goes where they go, does what they do. It makes me remember those rare moments as a child when I was allowed to tag along with my father to work. It was so exciting to be with him in his big world. Beavers always bring their kids to work. Every day, whether their mudding or damming or feeding. It’s part of the package.

Side by side from Heidi Perryman on Vimeo.

We’re still waiting for three kits to pose kindly in the same frame. But trust me, there are three. Apparently two share a similar gender or disposition and like to hang in pairs. But one is definitely his own beaver, and rejects the opportunities to crowd with his siblings. I think it’s the one with only one eye infected at the moment, so maybe that explains it. But since beavers groom their entire bodies and spread that bacteria around, I’m sure it will be both soon.

Let’s hope a high tide and some fresh salty water will help clean everyone soon. Mom’s been shaking her head a lot lately, so I’m guessing hers is an ear infection. Stupid cows.

With three kits and so many adults there’s always lots of time for my favorite thing. If your sound is up I think you’ll be able to hear a little of it here.

kit whining from Heidi Perryman on Vimeo.

Correcting the 400 year-old mistake!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Creative Solutions, kits, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? June 24, 2015

Watch Britain’s first wild beaver kits for 400 years take a dip

The first breeding colony of wild beavers to live in the UK for over 400 years has produced kits.

The birth of the babies was announced by the Devon Wildlife Trust and footage of the beavers was captured on camera by local filmographer Tom Buckley. It shows the babies taking their first swimming lesson and being helped through the water by their mother.

“My first sighting of this year’s new born kits was when I saw their mother swimming with one of them in her mouth to an area nearby where their father was waiting to greet them,” said Buckley. “One of the kits, however, seemed extremely unhappy to be out in the big wide world and as soon as its mother let it go it rushed back to its burrow. This was possibly their first experience of what lies outside of their burrow.”

Knowledge of the beaver colony’s presence in the Otter River in Devon first spread in February 2014. Several months later the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that it intended to remove the beavers due to the potential disease risk, but the Devon Wildlife Trust intervened, acquiring a license for the beavers to stay in January 2015. The creatures are now part of a wild beaver monitoring trial run by the Trust in conjunction with the University of Exeter, Clinton Devon Estates and the Derek Gow Partnership.

Watch it all the way to the end where that adorable little tail curls up. That is amazing footage by a man who obviously laid patiently in wait for a long time. Although this is running on literally every paper in england, youtube says it only has gotten around 275 hits because they’re all hosting it on their own sites. Let’s see if we can fix that shall we?

The exact location on the river where the kits are situated has not been disclosed, as the Devon Wildlife Trust wants to ensure the colony is left alone to raise its newest members. “The beavers have proved enormously popular with local people and we understand that many will now want to see the kits for themselves. But like all new parents, the beavers will need a bit space and peace at this time. So we ask that visitors take care not to disturb them. This means remaining on public footpaths, keeping a respectful distance from them, and keeping dogs under close control especially when near the river,” says Elliot.

This is a good idea, especially when you consider what a hard time England had giving up the habit of swiping unhatched bird eggs for their collections. Watching that video I think mum had her own plans to keep their location secret. She’s obviously moving them from one den to the next, which is a very protective behavior that our new mother beaver has done every year, and our old mom never bothered with.

But first wild beaver born in 400 years? That seems questionable. What about last year’s kits? Weren’t they wild? A more accurate headline would read “First officially sanctioned wild kits” born in 400 years. Which is pretty awesome.

And just to remind you of the ever contrarian research-repellant voices, the fishermen chime in on the BBC article.

Mark Owen, from the Angling Trust, said the fact the young beavers would not be tagged or tracked meant the trial lacked any “scientific credibility”.

‘Irresponsible programme’

“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.

First of all, that beaver has tags in BOTH ears. Second of all, fish DO reach their spawning grounds you big whiney fish-baby. And third of all. Mr. Owen’s obviously can’t spell: “programme?”

The BBC article has even more lovely footage if you’re interested. Congratulations Devon!

Wild beaver gives birth in England

Who are beavers helping now?

heidi08 Beavers and Frogs, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, kits, Who's saving beavers now? June 4, 2015

Beavers are the boyscouts of the animal kingdom. Why they’re practically helping old ladies across the street, and literally making new habitat for all. Now there’s some new research underlining the fact that they also play a very important role for amphibians.

Trends in Rocky Mountain amphibians and the role of beaver as a keystone species

Blake R. Hossacka, William R. Gouldb, Debra A. Patlac, Erin Muthsd, Rob Daleye, Kristin Legge, Paul Stephen Corna t

We used explicit dynamics models to estimate variation in annual occupancy, extinction, and colonization of wetlands according to summer drought and several biophysical characteristics (e.g., wetland size, elevation), including the influence of North American beaver (Castor canadensis). Although beaver were uncommon, their creation or modification of wetlands was associated with higher colonization rates for 4 of 5 amphibian species, producing a 34% increase in occupancy in beaver-influenced wetlands compared to wetlands without beaver influence. Also, colonization rates and occupancy of boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas) and Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) were ⩾2 times higher in beaver-influenced wetlands.

These strong relationships suggest management for beaver that fosters amphibian recovery could counter declines in some areasand demonstrate the close ecological association between beaver and wetland-dependent species.

The study discusses the grim fate of frogs in general, especially the drying species not lucky to live near a beaver dam. I’m pretty sure that if we cared as a nation about our frogs, (or our salmon) we’d protect beavers as the key player they are. Maybe even issue a frog-fine to folks who remove dams. We could use those monies to have a national scholarship for flow devices fund. Am I dreaming?

Another part of that big tree near the bank fell across the creek this week. turning our urban setting into a scene from the amazon. No piranhas but plenty of happy beavers making their way around the new food source. There were lots of visitors of the bipedal variety too last night, including a photographer from Bay Area News Group. Let’s hope beavers smile in the paper soon.

We counted at least four sampling the new tree, which wasn’t brought down by beaver, at least directly. Sometimes we saw several at once coming and going in every direction. No kits though, yet. Although I have to think they’re going to find this playpen pretty irresistible. The adults certainly did. Here’s nice glimpse of a beaver shaking himself as if to see if he’s dreaming at his crazy good fortune.

I think THIS windfall will take several days to finish, which means great photo ops for us in the meantime! In Napa last night Rusty was finally able to capture the two kits in a single shot, which confirms my earlier suspicion that one of the kits probably has the most adorable birth defect of all time. Either it will self correct or he’ll grow to be a very unique adult.

a tail study