Category: Recent Sightings

Halcyon Rescue

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, In the News, kits, New Species, Recent Sightings June 24, 2012

So the tap on my door yesterday turned out to be Moses with his camera bag, only instead of toting around the usual video camera that has practically become a regular Martinez landmark, the bag held an injured belted kingfisher. He had found it flapping around the primary dam and it couldn’t fly for more than a few feet. He had eventually managed to catch it with the help of the beaver-attentive homeless man Robert. Could I arrange to bring it to the Lindsay Museum for rehab?

So we transferred the very large bird with an impossibly long bill to a paper bag for safe keeping, and gave Moses back his camera case. Then I called Cheryl Reynolds to check in just to make sure what to do next. She said that rehab of Kingfishers was VERY tricky and that Lindsay would almost certainly bring the bird to International Bird Rescue where she works. She mulled whether it was better for the bird to go straight to Fairfield, but ultimately decided it would be best for a vet to see him right away and get her stabilized.

halcyon — Kingfisher with supper - Cheryl Reynolds

Jon was at work and Lory was out of town so I I drove alone in the Subaru, (where mom beaver had once had ridden ironically nearly two years ago to the day), with the bird fluttering inside her bag on the front seat. I say ‘her’ because she seemed to have an observable red chest band. As I drove, I thought of my personal history of bringing animals to Lindsay over the course of my life. A seagull. A thrush. A goldfinch. A pond turtle. And a tiny field mouse, which they did not take. At their advice we fed the baby fieldmouse puppy milk out of an eye dropper ourselves and he grew up from a ‘teaspoon’ to a ‘tablespoon’ in a short week. It was a strange lesson in animal husbandry, but perhaps paved the way for advanced rodent guardianship later on. After the week we put him back at Briones where we found him.

I delivered the bird to the healers at Lindsay. The receiving woman took down his information politely, “you say he’s from the Martinez Beaver dam? You mean the famous one?”. Yes, indeed. Good luck, Mr. Kingfisher. Your bright colors and swooping dives make for beautiful watching at the dams! Get well fast!

A couple more odds and ends to brighten your Sunday. Last night the father beaver movie topped 60,000! And as I was surfing about I found this article and thought, wait a minute, who’s calling themselves an accidental beaver advocate? That’s MY line! Someone’s stealing my material!

I became an accidental beaver advocate when some moved into our local stream and the city wanted to kill them. I started a group called ‘Worth A Dam’ to teach others about their value and how to solve problems. I organize a yearly beaver festival and am working with a group in California to reeducate our state about beaver value and historic prevalence.

Oh wait, that IS me. Just not my name. Whew, but hey….. My letter to the naturalist from New Hampshire was added to Stacey Cole’s most recent article. I suppose he feels he is protecting my honor by obliquely referring to me as a ‘reader in lafayette’ but when our Maine friend saw this letter she got excited that there was some local beaver contact she didn’t know. She called Stacey directly yesterday! He’s 90 years old and has beavers living on his land who are running out of food. He is having willow brought in to persuade them to stay! God bless Stacey, and Lega for that matter!

Okay, now for a quick round of “BEAVER or NOT” from Ohio Nature Research Photography and Videography. You know one of those sites where you can BUY shots labeled as beaver and run them in your alarmist article about beavers because, you know, you never actually saw one.

Look familiar? It should because that tiny little face with a white muzzle and whiskered button nose is a muskrat. A muskrat! Why do people get away with this? They’d never be able to sell a picture of a hummingbird as an eagle? Anyway, the photographer saw their ‘conical house’ and knew they were beavers. Sheesh. Of course I wrote them and I bet they are BESIDE themselves struggling to correct the mistake.

Now for a treat of epic proportions, check out the just released video from our friends at Beavers: Wetlands and Wildlife. I know you are busy and people don’t always have time to click on videos but it’s Sunday, I know you well enough to know you want to so JUST DO IT.

Seems like old times…

heidi08 Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Recent Sightings, Video June 11, 2012

Last night on the footbridge we were treated to a beaver show with a cast of at least three characters. It all started with a visitor from the ‘new’ bank hole under the cottonwood tree. He sauntered around picking choice willow and brought the branches back to eat or share. Then a second beaver emerged, who (not to be outdone in offerings) took a lovely choice branch OFF the dam and brought it back to the second lodge. Before a third beaver came from upstream and crossed over the secondary before making his ambling way downstream.

It has been a long time since we saw three beavers at once! While this one was coming down another was eating a strawberry under the bridge!

Because our beavers have excellent timing, a family of three generations just happened to be together walking on their evening stroll. Grandma, Grandpa, Mom and Dad, and a charming little girl watched in awe. When I described what was happening and invited them to the beaver festival they said they had been last year and had a wonderful time! Were beavers nocturnal? Could beavers hold their breath? Did they ever eat fish? After watching one beaver mud the dam the child soberly announced that she wanted to BE a beaver, and clarified to mom that this aspiration exceeded even her decision to be a fairy.

I of course understood exactly what she meant.

All in all, it was excellent beaver viewing. Warm and with primarily benign homeless sightings. The most threatening was a thuggy youth who left his other thuggy friends to come stand with us on the bridge and ask questions. Did that pipe they put through the other dam work? Will we need another one? Is their a nest somewhere? He was particularly surprised to see a tail slap because he had never witnessed one before. After the excitement he wasn’t so thuggy, and he and his friends didn’t bother anyone. Before the solstice steals our evening sun away, I would definitely advise making the trip to watch for yourself.

Assorted Beaver Goodness

heidi08 Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Recent Sightings March 10, 2012

Today’s post has turned out to be a smorgasboard of beaver tales, so take a little bit of everything and when you find something you love go back for more! This morning I should start by saying I saw two beaver from the footbridge, and they swam around each other and even did a brief ‘push-match’ before ducking out of sight. Our two fancy hooded mergansers flew in and made a nice landing for a second act, and the mallards gave them wide berth. I saw new people photographing and we chatted. They had recently moved here from Spain and had read about our beavers on our website. How’s that for cosmopolitan beavers? That made it impossible to resist posting this again!

Green_Acre_Radio_Urban_Beavers.mp3 Here’s a lovely beaver radio program from Green Acres Radio in Washington. It talks about volunteers planting trees for beavers, which apparently is allowed in many cities that aren’t ours.

Every spring urban beavers come to a hidden park south of the Northgate Mall. They come to build dams. Most of the dams are appreciated by the humans they’re forced to co-exist with, but not all.

“As you see it’s right near the culvert here so Seattle Public Utilities has to take it out every time. But they’re moving around and I’m sure they’ll be moving into other natural areas as well.” Ruth Williams is a volunteer forest steward at the Beaver Pond Natural Area. Once called Park 6, the area has been transformed by beavers into a thriving wetland. The dams beavers build hold back water, making ponds that attract wildlife. The pond filters and cleans rainwater. Williams points to a large pile of branches in the middle of the pond. “That’s the lodge right out there. Yeah, the beaver lodge. And then the main dam, the first dam, is right over here.”

Fellow volunteer Frank Backus says, “They’re really doing what the watershed needs, a way of holding back the water so it doesn’t go rushing down and cause flooding down below.

Oh Washington! Such beaver wisdom in flagrant display! Even your volunteers are smarter than our scientists! Well I guess all of Washington isn’t that advanced because there was some tree vandalism. But listen to what the program suggests as a solution – EDUCATION!!!!!!!! Imagine that!

This next delightful read is about a Canadian ambassador’s introduction of beaver to China and will make you smile several times. I especially like the confusion about what a beaver IS.

Beaver Tales: Brian Evans, the Pursuit of China and the Perils of Beaver Diplomacy

Paula Simons

The University of Alberta Press has just published Evans’ new book, a surprisingly and delightfully funny autobiography called Pursuing China: Memoir of a Beaver Liaison Officer. My Saturday column profiles Evans, his remarkable life, and his life-long love affair with all things Chinese – here’s Evans’ account of how he became Canada’s official Beaver Liaison Officer, and saved Canada from the threat of national disgrace.

What could Canada offer? Well, it could keep to its tradition of following the American example and offer animals for the Beijing Zoo. But what kinds of animals?

What better than the beaver: Castor canadensis , dammer of rivers, felter of hats, prodigious breeder, and the symbol of Canada? Surely the Chinese, schooled in subtlety, would not fail to get the point. Cast your beaver upon Pacific waters, it was thought, and they will come back as pandas. Of course, we were offering one of nature’s most prolific creatures, known to China since the days of Beijing Man, in exchange for one of nature’s most reticent ones. But then, it was that sort of thinking that gave us the sixty-three-cent dollar.

Go read the whole thing, it’s wonderfully done and will teach you some excellent history! Not to mention that learning about Chinese attitudes towards beavers will get you ready for tomorrow’s treasure on the podcast interview with Michael Pollock, who in addition to studying beavers and coho and steelhead and streambeds ALSO went to study beavers in Mongolia!

Tired yet? Wait, there’s more. First an update on our new famous beaver friend in the NorthEast. We had a good chat about her beavers and her neighbors who aren’t loving them; she bought Mike Callahan’s DVD and I got the two of them talking about the one pond she’s worried about near her driveway. She posted about our exchange here. We talked lodges, wildlife and wetlands as well as when to keep an eye out for new kits! She says she already has seen a dramatic difference in birds and wildlife!

Just one more story to go and this is a heartwarming tale of beaver rescue from near Portland OR. Nice to see a family taking care of their furry neighbors and I’m thrilled that Audubon agreed to help out!

There’s No Great Loss…

heidi08 Educational, Environmental, pictures, Recent Sightings January 24, 2012

Without some small gain…

greenie eating fish — Green Heron at Third Dam: Cheryl Reynolds

Thanks for sharing the great photo! Both Bruce Herbold and I tentatively think that the fish may be a Sacramento splittail, a native minnow that occurs in north bay brackish marshes. We are not entirely certain because the photo angle/fish is a bit tilted which makes it difficult to clearly see the back and head of the fish. Hope this is helps and keep the photos coming!

______________________

Robert A. Leidy, Ph.D.

Wetlands Regulatory Office (WTR-8)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

75 Hawthorne Street

San Francisco, CA 94105

And if all that tasty fish-eating made you hungry, here’s some food for thought!

Milwaukee Brewers closer John Axford, has burst on the scene as one of the most dominant closers in all of baseball. What is the secret to his success? Perhaps this, is the answer…Thanks to John’s diligence and love for Twitter, we may have stumbled on to something more amazing than we could have imagined. Below you will find a picture of Mr. Axford enjoying, what appears to be, a beavers tail. In fact, John admits it in the Tweet. Could beaver not only be his secret weapon, but the secret weapon of an entire country? What if all Canadians harness their power from the dam building rodents flat tail? Is this a national conspiracy?

BeaverTails is a company out of Ottawa, Canada. They specialize in BeaverTails. Basically, a BT is a flat donut full of butter and any other type of topping your heart can desire. I would imagine chocolate, caramel, nuts, maybe some fruit. Here’s the thing though, all I can do is speculate. Sadly, I am not Canadian and have only been to Vancouver…which seems an awful lot like Seattle. Therefore, I do not think it counts.porty bit of pastry this morning with your coffee, you might enjoy this column on Beavertail.

Go here for the rest of the article, and here to see if they want to sell at the Beaver Festival!

Beaver Watch Alert!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver News, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Recent Sightings December 8, 2011

This lovely website featured some local beavers the author is keeping an eye on this week. She’s on the East Coast and bravely went to the library for information on them where she learned that beavers are rodents and responsible for 20 million dollars of damage every year. I wrote her something about beaver benefits and she was very happy to have the information. You should go read the whole thing because its fun to watch another person unwrap beaver mysteries!

To my knowledge there is no dam on the pond we visit locally. It’s not really part of a stream; it’s a wetland that was once part of the river, till the curve of the river shallowed out and straightened. At one time a brick-making factory was located at the pond, manufacturing bricks from the mud at the bottom. The bricks rebuilt the town when the entire business district — then constructed of wood — was ravaged by fire in 1849. Now it’s a nature preserve where countless other forms of life make their habitations — including beavers.

Later in the day Brock Dolman sent me this landowner guide to living with beavers from Animal Protection of New Mexico. It’s a great resource about flow devices, wrapping trees and beaver benefits. APNM brought Skip out for a training and video taped it. Remember?

I wrote them that they should add some other resources including Sherri Tippie’s book and Mike Callahan’s DVD and the director wrote me back to say it will be added to the website along with our address. Excellent!

Last night, Jon and I took a visiting journalist working on a national beaver article around the dams. We met a scruffy character on the footbridge who explained helpfully that he had been watching these beavers for 5 years and they used to be SMALLER. Also that Moses knew everything about them and those “internet people” knew nothing! (Ahh, what a relief to finally find an expert!) And useful to show the journalist that every single stray person in the town has a dearly held opinion about these beavers. Our shivering efforts were rewarded by a some great sightings and a very unusual vocalization display that lasted nearly 5 minutes. Even though the weather was artic we were enchanted by the experience, which reminded me of the beaver-whining that got me involved initially lo these many years ago!

Oh and if you need one more really good thing, allow me to suggest you add this website to your favorites. It is either tear-streamingly funny or head-scratchingly inscrutable or both but it is brilliant in a way I cannot possibly describe. Of course I sent them a beaver picture and I’ll let you know if it says anything!