Beaver vocalization – Worth A Dam

Does this look like ‘Havoc’ to you?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental August 31, 2013

Beavers have built dams in the Roy Swamp Wildlife Management Area on West Cornwall Road in Sharon causing water to spill out onto the roadway during heavy storms. The selectmen plan to invoke the statute that allows the town to order landowners to keep their waterways free of debris. Ruth Epstein Republican-American

Me either, but Sharon, CT clearly has their own definition of ‘havoc’.

Sharon to tackle beaver damage

SHARON — Officials refuse to leave it to the beavers to wreak havoc, so they’re seeking ways to combat the effects of those industrious, highly energized creatures.

During the last meeting of the Board of Selectmen, First Selectman Robert Loucks said two large dams had broken, one on West Cornwall Road and the other on West Woods Road 2. The breakthroughs caused water to inundate the adjacent roadways, leading to severe damage.

You know what works real good at keeping the dam stable and preventing the pond from getting too high? A flow device! Lucky for you your in Connecticut the state with its own Beaver Expert (Skip Hiliker) or if you wanna shop around, Skip Lisle is 3 hours away in VT and Mike Callahan is 75 miles away in MA. You can think of better solutions than trapping, right?

Our beaver friend Malcolm Kenton sent this recording this am from his beaver watching adventure last night at Huntley Meadow. He writes

Here’s an audio recording I took of the 3-year-old beaver underneath the boardwalk by the bench lodge, uttering some whines as she nibbled on some of her food cache. The voices you hear are the four other people who were at that spot also watching and listening to wildlife.

To which I would say after listening several times, there are at least two beavers in that audio and you have kits!

And as sun sets on our beaver heroes on the West Coast, a third salmon friendly beaver-device is left in their path, this one a Flexible leveler with a special salmon swirl in the center. It’s been a job well done!

From Mike Callahan

Third WA Salmon-Beaver Site –

Here are pictures of the modified intake fence for Flexible Pond Levelers. We installed this fish-friendly flow device yesterday also. When the salmon exit the intake end of the pipe the chain-link fence cylinder guides them directly to a One-Way door on the side of the exclusion fence. See pics. We did not extend the pipe to the side wall of the intake fence because we need the water to enter the pipe near the center of the cylinder to prevent detection by beavers. The chain-link tube prevents the fish from needing to search for the exit and prevents them from bumping into or getting stuck in the fence. The surfaces are all smooth with no sharp edges. The One-Way door PVC pipes are weighted to keep them in a closed position but can be easily nudged open by fish when underwater. Again many thanks are due to the other team members Mike Rustay, Ben Dittbrenner, Dale, and Jake Jacobson. None of this would have been possible without them. If only we didn’t have to wait a couple of months for the salmon to return!

Seeing the beaver in lights…

heidi08 Beavers, City Reports October 9, 2012

Hey! Midddletown Ohio has just announced its festival of lights for the holidays which includes a representation of a beaver trying to chop down a tree! The article says this is in honor of the actual beaver that tried to chop down their trees earlier in the year and had to be “encouraged to move elsewhere”.

Um, the afterlife?

Since this is the same state that allowed wild animals to be wrestled for sport on a private zoo and then shot 18 tigers when the obviously insane owner let them out and then killed himself, and the same state where a trapper was invited to tell rousing ‘beaver tales’ at a nature center, and the speaker’s aunt offered to make a coat from me when I protested, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that beaver relocation means beaver trapping in Ohio.

A beaver cutting down a tree and a herd of elegant deer will join the many other displays in Light Up Middletown this year. The addition of the beaver display is particularly ironic since several years ago, a real live beaver chewed through the mooring lines for displays floating in the pond and cut down several trees. (The beaver was encouraged to find another home.)

In addition to the beaver and the ubiquitous reindeer, the flashy display menagerie also includes whales and a giraffe. I dunno… Have you considered the addition of some electric bengal tigers in the manger? That would be truly memorable. I guess they were “relocated” too right?

In a manner of speaking.

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Now, enough complaint and skepticism, because I’m about to show you the very best beaver footage I have shot in 6 years – no its not the most technically crisp or skillful, but its the most magical beaver moment yet caught on film by me. Turn your sound UP to hear jr vocalize when his mom approaches, and watch how he nuzzles her and them begins some self grooming when she doesn’t want to cuddle. This is a study in attachment, and I was blessed to see it last night with just enough light left to capture on film. Enjoy!

Maternal Beaver Moment. 059 from Heidi Perryman on Vimeo.

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!