It rained and rained
For forty daysies daysies
It rained and rained
For forty daysies daysies
Nearly drove those animals crazy crazies
Children of the Lord
The hard rain yesterday reminded me of all those worried days we would go down with umbrellas to check on the beavers and their dams. It reminded me of when the filter cage washed away and when their lodge was flattened. It worried our Napa friends too, and they did an admirable job checking on the beavers they know and care about. Here are Robin’s pictures from the Pearl Street Dam:
And here are Rusty’s photos from the Tulocay pond. The big beautiful lodge was nearly covered and the anxious yearlings took sheltered together on the roof, like Katrina victims.
It’s so human to me to think of your home as safety even when it stops acting safe. I remember seeing the little beaver footprints the morning after our second lodge washed out when our kits tried to come home and said “Where is home?”
As much as we worry about our beavers in these flooding conditions, I shudder to think what its like in the snow, where getting flooded out could mean freezing to death. Come to think of it, I guess if its freezing they just get massive snow, and if its flooding its not freezing. So stop worrying Heidi. Beavers have done this a long time. they know the drill.
It’s nice to read articles like this about their snowy habitats though.
Snow was falling, snow on snow, as the song goes, and another four inches fell on the thick snow blankets already on the ground. Splendid! We strapped on our snowshoes and took off. No adventures in the high country, but the Dredge Lakes area offered plenty to see.
There was still a little open water in some of the ponds and channels, despite several days of freezing and single-digit temperatures. So it was Watch Your Step, if we crossed the dicey spots.
Then down the lake beach to the lake’s outlet, still breaking our own trail, with a couple of short side excursions to check some beaver lodges. Ice continued to clump up on the ‘shoes, making hard work. Along the river, there are a couple of spots where it is best to duck up into the woods for a little way, before dropping back down to the river edge. By now, this is getting old, all that clambering over and under the sagging branches. Then one more stretch of open beach and another alder crawl back up to the dike by Moose Lake. Now it’s a piece of cake, on well-packed trail back to the bridge, with just a few drooping branches to dodge.
The big beaver empoundment was marked by some critters that crossed the wide open space and others that had ventured out only to retreat quickly. In addition to the numerous hare and porcupine tracks, we found signs of many other critters too. A shrew had scuttled briefly out into the open and right back, ducking into a hole only a shrew could fit into. Nearby was a bigger hole with signs of traffic in and out; one clear footprint let us guess that an ermine used this place. A deer had wandered out of the woods onto the river beach, and a mink visited a pond. Squirrels hadn’t done much traveling on the ground, but here and there a vole had made a beautiful trackway in and out of cover. Ravens had landed and taken off, leaving marks of wingtips etched in the snow. Before the last snow, a coyote (or wolf perhaps) had crossed a pond; its tracks were now just dimples in the snow, but the pattern suggested a running carnivore. Lots of activity, and for most of this walk, few signs of humans.
Sunlight on the mountains, with wind-whipped snow streaming off the peaks. All the trees and shrubs and tussocks draped in many inches of gorgeous snow. Back home, the aching feet and weary muscles were resuscitated by cups of tea and a pile of cookies. Once again, we claim that this is one of the best backyards in the world!
If Mary’s name sounds familiar it should. She’s the ecology professor who authored the mendenhall glacier beaver book. She may be retired now but boy she sure gets around and sees what’s happening! I always thought of beavers in the bay area having an easy life, but maybe the flooding is a different set of problems. True, they don’t need to do a food cache which must be hard work, but they also don’t get three months down time in the lodge just chilling out and waiting for spring. I guess both locations have their benefits and drawbacks. Just like they do for people.
In Minnesota they were surprised to find a beaver-chewed power pole.They think he mistook it for a tree, while we are pretty certain he just needed to sharpen his teeth.
Confused beaver chews power pole instead of tree
GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. – Maybe he needs glasses.
A beaver near Grand Rapids apparently needed to exercise his teeth recently, and instead of chewing on a tree, which is routine behavior for beavers, the semiaquatic rodent decided to get after a power pole near the shores of Boy Lake.
Lake Country Power posted a picture of the chewy beaver’s handiwork on its Facebook page, which is drawing plenty of attention and laughs. As one person posted, “Worked for power company 39 years, never seen a beaver chew a pole.”
Pshaw, if you had read this website you would have seen it a month ago! It must be a winter thing, but it’s strange we’ve seen it twice this year and never before. Hmm.
