Waterfowl less problematic at airport, despite persistent beaver pond
Waterfowl around the airport are a direct consequence of beavers. A shallow stream runs on the west side of the runway’s north end. Beavers have dammed a culvert, which handles overflow. The stream is now a pond that attracts ducks and geese. A few teal were present Wednesday.
“We’ve torn that dam out a couple of times, but the beavers keep rebuilding it,” Blish said. “We will need to get them out of there using trapping measures. We’ve been waiting for the rain to let up, but we are going to work on it this weekend.”
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation issues licenses for nuisance wildlife removal. A Westville contractor will remove the beavers at the airport.
And so it was that the state that reports almost no earthly use for beavers admits that they help waterfowl as a reason to eliminate them. I believe that’s called a ‘mixed blessing’ but at least it emphasizes their ecological role.
Remember that our friend in Tulsa the Skunk Whisperer wanted to install a flow device after he got Mike’s DVD and couldn’t find a single person in the state who wanted beavers on their property even when he promised to do it for free.
Rusty Cohn in Napa was waiting patiently for the big reappearance of their new kit last night, and was frustrated to have a crowd and chatter instead of the hushed watching he wished for. Still he managed to get this at 8:30 which is pretty adorable.
It made me think how smoothly adult beavers enter the water, like a silk scarf being pulled into a tube. With no effort at all. And how gracelessly young kits enter the water, flinging themselves into the abyss as if something could go wrong any minute. Since diving is the most challenging thing kits do, I’m sure it often does go wrong. They are very buoyant, and getting their little floating selves underwater takes practice.
They hurl themselves into the water and hope it stays open long enough for them to pass through.
There is an art, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
Douglas Adams:The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
