Our very own Cheryl Reynolds attended Saturday’s Pollinator Class at Mt. View Sanitation and was able to meet naturalist Jeff Alvarez, who will be helping us with our interpretive signs. He is very knowledgeable about and interested in beavers. They talked about the many ways beavers impact habitat, and the lodges being useful to all sorts of surprising species. Remember that lodges are lined with mud and highly insulated. During the day they are full of toasty cuddling beavers, and that makes the outside of the lodge warmer than the surrounding area. We saw this in person when we measured with the non-contact thermometer during the sheetpile installation. This is why lodges are so appealing to reptiles, why we used to see the pond turtles sleeping on the old lodge, and why the variety of snakes around and atop a lodge are greater than a similar area without a lodge.
It’s also why this Canadian goose, and many many others, decides to make her nest atop it. The eggs are warmed on both sides, and mom has an excellent vantage point.
For other photographs of geese nesting on lodges, go here.
