THE WORTH A DAM STORY

Beaver Moon

heidi08 Educational, Festival, New Species November 14, 2008

Last night I was looking up at our ghostly full moon spectacle and wondering what it was called. Everyone knows about the Hunter’s moon, and the Harvest moon, so what was this? Turns out this second moon after the fall equinox is named after our favorite thing: “The Beaver Moon”. The Farmers’ Almanac says in its unpoetic way that it is so named as a reminder to set our beaver traps before the ponds freeze, so we’ll have fur for the winter. Other kinder interpretations suggest that it is the time for beavers to get busier and lay up food before the ice sets.

I’m thinking the full beaver moon would be a great time for an evening beaver festival. Hot cider and christmas lights along the creek to visit the dams in succession. Maybe a start to the shopping season in some downtown boutiques. Night lamps on creek activity and maybe some folk music and a bonfire. Sounds good to me. Happy Beaver Moon everyone!

Oh and woodpecker update: Our feathered friends have cracked the media barrier and made Gary Bogue and the Chronicle today, channels 7 and 5 last night, and the LA times and CC Times. Apparently now there’s discussion that they “might just kill a couple to scare the others away”.

Huh?

How will killing a couple scare others away? Will this be done in a public forum where all the woodpeckers will be made to watch? How will the not-shot birds find out what happened to their compatriots? Twitter? Honestly, do they plan to post the severed red-heads on pikes all around the border to ward off unwanted visitors?

Residents of a Healthy River

heidi08 New Species, Video September 20, 2008

Here’s the watershed I visited last weekend: Big River in Mendocino, the home of my first beaver sighting. It never occurred to me that I’d eventually see more wildlife downtown than on vacation. Sunday’s visit was great otter family viewing though, so enjoy.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=eUFXHRZYuis]

Beaver Tug-of-War…

heidi08 kits, New Species September 11, 2008

Last night there was delightful beaver viewing below the Marina Vista bridge. Three kits whining and mewing to each other over who was getting the best blackberry branch. The fourth kit, who appears to go his own way, was in residence not to far off. (So those who have worried do we still have four, yes, we do!)

The kits would chew down the branches like corn on the cob, making loud smacking noises on the way. The newest shoots were the tastiest and first eaten, then the leaves, then the stalk unless something better came along. They ate with such speed it reminded me of being a child and trying to eat a treat very quickly before your sibling came in and wanted a bite.

At one point one lucky kit decided he’d take his branch away from his brothers to enjoy in private. As he swam off, the littlest fellow grabbed onto the end of the branch. For a while the pair had a tug-of-war in the water, each pulling the tendril in opposite directions. Then the bigger kit decided just to swim off anyway and pulled his brother a ways through the water. The little one quickly bit through the branch and acheived his own freedom, but eventually picked up the branch and decided to follow his sibling anyway.

Quite a show.

Envious of their acquatic cuteness, a family of raccoons approached the bridge for their share of oohs and ahhhs. There were about five little ones, and they followed mom up the oak tree at the edge of the bridge. We thought they were hiding from human threats, and then noticed the tree was bursting with acorns. Each little raccoon made his clambering way out onto the skinniest branches to strip them from the tree. There were sounds of crunching and glimpses of black-and-white-bandit-heads on every furthest branch. Like a omnivorous Christmas tree. I of course left my camera at home that night, but this is from our own Cheryl Reynolds on a prior visit.

“A Boy and His Turtle”

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers, New Species, Uncategorized September 10, 2008

The dramatic rescue of Hector and his siblings is a story for all ages. Steve Weir and his crack team of turtle-midwives braved the heat and the traffic (and a few uncharitable eyes) to keep these eggs safe. In the end though, it was Steve who took the final risk and dug the young free when they failed to emerge. I thought you’d want to read the account in his own words:

We opened the nest last Tuesday (it was covered with a thick, adobe clay brick type cap. I found an empty shell inside and thought the eggs had rotted. Then I noticed a dirt covered baby turtle, I thought it was dead. It moved when I touched it and so I took it to the creek and off it took! Of the 15 eggs laid, I released 11 that morning. Two more had just hatched, but had extensive egg pouches attached and so I took them to my office and placed them in a dish of creek water. Two more were left in the nest, covered up.

I released the two with the egg sacks because they had absorbed them by that afternoon. That evening, I removed the two remaining eggs so as to prevent them from falling victim to night time predators. One was ready for release the next morning, but the last was just coming out of his shell. I kept him all week (and cared for him over the weekend).. By Saturday, I was hooked and bought him/her a large tank. Today is the one week birthday and “Hector” is living well with filter, two types of lights, lounging rocks, cover, and food.

It was just dumb luck that I decided to check on the nest, I am convinced that they youngsters could not have dug themselves out.

Dumb Luck? I don’t know. I guess in the sense that the beavers were “lucky” not to be killed, and the city was “lucky” that people explained why they should be taken care of. Maybe whenever animals are saved by human compassion and stewardship it’s a kind of luck.

I would never call it “dumb” though. I’m pretty sure that taking care of the wild things near our tame spaces is one of the smartest things people can do.

Turns out Mr. Weir worked with the Lindsay museum in his younger days, was involved with the raptor release program and even played a grandparent role with Sioux, the mountain lion. I’m thinking that Mrs. Turtle couldn’t have picked a better place to lay her eggs, unless it was inside his office. Come to think of it, didn’t the PWA hydrology report on the dam mention a Weir? Hmm, must have known that the county recorder’s support of wildlife could represent an obstacle.

Sliders today, western pond turtles and salmon tomorrow!

Streamkeepers

heidi08 New Species September 9, 2008

Close watchers of our dams may have noticed the increasing dragonfly population with the winding down of summer. The view, standing on the Marina Vista bridge looking towards the footbridge, resembles a WWII fighter pilot movie. Many different kinds of dragonfly, zipping and chasing eachother about. Their numbers are sign of an increasingly healthy creek. When I went googling for species identification I was distracted by the fact that there is even one called a “beaverpond basket tail”. How do we get one of those? We need a dragonfly expert on staff, so if you want to brush up on your flyfacts, you might start here or here:

As you can see from this introductory guide from a Canadian lesson on creek health, an increase in dragonflies is sign of a moderate improvement. Better than some bugs but not as good as mayflies, which we should be hoping for. Fishermen understand well how popular mayflies are with trout, and they are considered the king of eco-bugs. Turns out their larvae makes a tastey morsel for dragonfly larvae, so maybe our increase is a sign of very good things to come. Hopefully we’ll be seeing mayflies soon, especially once the water gets moving again.

Need a little practice spotting your streamkeepers? Check out this delightful game from Queensland Waterwatch and help “Freckles” clean up his creek.