Category: New Species
On the Fly – Birds of the Beaver Dam
Jeannine Gendar – Martinez Patch
The people at Worth A Dam, the group that has been advocating for the Alhambra Creek beavers since their 2006 arrival, have film of hooded mergansers at the beaver dam and great photos of other birds that are taking advantage of habitat improvements the beavers have made: kingfishers, cormorants, grebes, and egrets to name a few, and a couple of herons. Okay, technically egrets are herons, but I’m talking about green herons and black-crowned night-herons.
If you missed Jeannine’s beautiful ode to birds and beavers you should hop over to our friends at Patch and savor it. It’s a delightful reminder that the beavers have played a huge environmental and civic role in Martinez, and a good place to begin gathering your thoughts for their upcoming 5th anniversary!
Back at the beaver pond, songbirds too are finding their habitat improved. A 2008 study by the Wildlife Conservation Society found that where there are more beaver dams there are more songbirds. The dams and ponds recharge water tables and improve the health of streams. Taking out pondside trees, the beavers encourage low-growing plants; chewing willows and cottonwoods to the nubs, they stimulate new shoots on those trees. All of this creates cover for songbirds and nesting habitat for waterfowl.
Don’t you wish every the ‘Patch’ of EVERY city had a similar bird & beaver report? Hmm…we’ll work on that. For now THANK you Jeannine! This lovely article prompted two donations this morning from beaver supporters I haven’t even met! What an important look at our creeks through a new lens of feathers and fur!
Speaking of new friends, yesterday I interviewed FS hydrologist Suzanne Fouty of Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, and I will tell you that in addition being thoroughly delightful and dazzlingly brilliant she brought a lot of new words to the habitat conversation, including ‘cross-sectional’, ‘ungulate’, ‘buck and pole fencing’, and WOLVES.
You won’t want to miss this.
Otter By The Water – Have You Seen One In The Creek?
Local photographer and videographer Moses Silva took this shot recently of an otter sunning himself on an Alhambra Creek beaver lodge. Jim Caroompas Martinez Patch
Jim was nice enough to run Moses’ excellent photo on Patch last night, and it’s hard to think of a better Martinez Moment. I hope more wildlife comes and sits atop that tuft for their photo shoot! Green Heron, baby ducks, Mink, Muskrat. Speaking of Muskrat the WSJ reporter who gave us the excellent story of Amanda from the Lands Council is writing now about muskrat bellies.
Can we assume he’s been assigned to the “Rodent Beat?”
Muskrat Love: Exuberant Demand Pays Off for Great Lakes Fur Trappers
Newly Rich Chinese Are Swathed in Rodent’s Warm Skins, but Euro Crisis Could Damp Pelt Boom
CALUMET, Mich.—The North American muskrat market has been booming, thanks to soaring purchases by Chinese and other newly rich nations that need muskrat fur to line coats and footwear. Specifically, they want muskrat bellies, the felt-like fur that is practically impermeable to moisture. At $10 per pelt—five times what muskrats fetched in the 1990s—pelts were trading at new highs when bidding for last season’s furs ended in June.
To which I can only say “Stay Away from our muskrats in Alhambra Creek” if you know what’s good for you, and Joel I liked your beaver story better. Ew.
Finally Brock Dolman sent this excellent find of the educational string band from Santa Cruz called Banana Slug. Check out my favorite recording. I already invited them to the beaver festival, lets keep our fingers crossed!
When Jon trotted down with the dog on New Years’ eve around 4:30 there was a crowd gathered around at the Escobar bridge watching this little fellow meticulously grooming his fur without any awareness of his audience. Moses Silva was there filming of course, and very kindly gave me some photos afterwards. What a fantastic way to draw attention to Mom’s memorial! Thanks Otter! The mayor walked by on his way to the creek monkey, but if he had any impulse to look at what his constituents were watching, he gamely resisted it.
As you can see, the dedicated grooming paid off, and The nibbler eventually fluffed himself into a very warm and furry young otter. Otters are born blind and helpless but are in the water by two months. They stay with the mother for most of a year, then straggle of on their own to make their way before the new pups are born in spring. Obviously this young one was introduced to Alhambra Creek as a prime fishing spot, and came back because it was easy and familiar.
This great Egret was jealous of the spot and came to check it out for himself when the otter retired. Wow, what a creek!
Speaking of memorials, did you spot the End of the Year Highlights in the Gazette? Along with a mention of August Events that gave the beaver festival top billing over the Peddler’s Faire there was this bit of reflection.
September ended on an ignominious note for City staff after a downtown, creek-side property owner complained about the inclusion of a beaver in a new mural being painted in Main Street Plaza. When staff directed the artist to remove the beaver illustration at the behest of the property owner, word got out and area media, including the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote about the latest chapter of the “city’s conflicted relationship with its resident beaver family,” as Chronicle reporter Carolyn Jones wrote.
Did you catch that? A creek side complaint! That didn’t make the earlier reports and I suppose the rumor eventually percolated to the surface. Good Ol’ Dave Scola, taking the heat for a powerful landowner’s petulant decision AGAIN. Well, we always knew how it happened. But it’s nice to see it in print. Thanks Greta.
And our Georgia friend wrote me that Sherri’s interview plays annoyingly with every page load if you are using Chrome, and doesn’t play at all if he’s using another browser. I tried several and realized he was right. I apologize for that and will work on the fix. Sometimes I forget to check how the website is working with other browsers. We’ll get the hang of this eventually! We’re on iTunes now, so GO SUBSCRIBE, avoid the hassel and never miss an episode! And while you’re there maybe you could rate beavers kindly?
Beautiful Buttermilk Sky this morning at the beaver dam. The season is definitely changing. It doesn’t get light until after 6 and the beavers have adapted their morning routines. This morning I was on the footbridge while it was still prison-dim. I saw a hunched, shadowy figure going back and forth across the lower creek. Something with four legs who stood a foot or two out of the water. Too awkward to be a dog, too tall to be a raccoon, too impossible to be anything else.
Honestly, for the longest time I could only see this.
Marta jogged by and enjoyed the mystery too, creeping around the bank to investigate. In the end we decided the tide was so low that it was a raccoon walking down the creek and reaching for tasty morsels on his way. No bears this morning. Another day perhaps.
It’s not so strange. Did you hear about what they just confirmed sighting of in LA? Paso Robles to be exact?
Capybara! Now that puts the Owens Valley Beavers into perspective! There’s something inexplicably fun about this story if you want to go read it. Considering how much mistaken identity there is between beavers, muskrats, nutria & woodchucks, it must have taken a GENIUS at Fish and Game to figure this one out. Whoever called it, they deserve a raise.
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