night heron with fish — Black-crowned Night Heron catching large-mouthed bass in the Napa Beaver Pond – Photo: Hank Miller

A lot is happening with our new friends at the Napa beavers. They are getting mink visits, amazing night heron and great blue heron photos, and one of their two kits is sick. We noticed him very listless in a video Rusty sent on Wednesday and he was out during the day on Friday. A rescue worker tried to pick him/her up but he rallied long enough to give her the slip. Rusty saw him last night, going into and out of the lodge, and looking slightly more lively. We spoke with the excellent beaver rehabber Cher Button-Dobmeier from the Abbe-Freeland center in NY, Mean while Sonoma wildlife is on alert, and there has been a lot of discussion back and forth over whether/when to intervene, and when to let nature take its course. At the moment the decision seems to be if he’s out during the day pick him up.

It made me remember that our first year we had a kit die (the one they found out was blind) and the next year lost two to what we later learned was round worm parasite. I was prepared for it to be the same every year, but it hasn’t happened since. It made me wonder if kits born to newish parents are more vulnerable to infection/parasite? Even when our mom was dying her final kits grew up healthy. But our new beaver mom seems young, and her kits are healthy, so that wouldn’t make sense. Maybe it’s a habitat thing – more recently colonized habitat caries greater risk of transmission? And the risk decreases over time? Or maybe it’s just a fluke? sick kit rescue The flurry of activity – trauma and discovery- reminds me of our early days, and how amazing it was to watch the blooming Alhambra Creek come to life lo those many years ago. Remember how surprised we were when Moses first saw the mink?

All of which helps make the case that beaver ponds create thriving ecosystems with massive biodiversity. Here’s a nice article this morning from Massachusetts of all places that proves it!

Penthouses built high over the water

This week Stream Team photographer Judy Schneider has taken the lead with a domestic scene of beauty. The feathered family photographed is on and around a rough nest of sticks high in a beaver-drowned White Pine. Most area heron rookeries are above beaver impoundments.

Why don’t we ever get Great Blue Herons in Martinez? Oh that’s right, we do.

Immature Great Blue Heron at the footbridge: Photo – Mary Long

Hank just sent footage of his adventure. Unbelievable. I count 3 rare species, but maybe I missed one?

Why does everyone in the world get cute evening beaver footage before me? Jon saw is seeing our little peanut at 5:00 am before he goes to work, but that hardly counts. This is from Rusty Cohn in Napa. Not only does he get two little kits to film in the leisurely evening hours, his footage has no background train sounds, no garbage trucks, and no homeless drunks arguing. It’s not remotely fair – but it’s still adorable.

You can tell him so yourself in person when he comes to table at our beaver festival this year! He and Hank Miller (the photographer) will be representing the Napa beavers together. They need a name. Maybe you can help them think of one? Wine country beavers. Vintage beavers. Vines and Beavers. Fine Whines from beavers. Hey I like that last one. It’s fun, you should play.

I can remember the first time Jon and I tabled at the John Muir Earth Day event in 2008. They gave us the table and we brought Moses’ chew, some photos, books, a scrapbook with three pages filled, and the handbook I had put together for the subcommittee. On the way there it occurred to me to stop and buy some cheap pens and paper from the drug store so that we could have kids draw beavers. What a good idea that turned out to be.

Later in the day we got lucky and FRO came to paint the watercolor she was finishing for me. It still hangs in our living room. (Along with that tablecloth btw.)

I hope she in joyed her time sitting in the sun, because we were never to give her that particular afternoon off at again!

Well Rusty and Hank have their work cut out for them, but we’ll make sure they have everything they need, and lots of friends on hand to help out. In the meantime Cheryl can keep us happy with lovely beaver photos like this, taken the other night when we were waiting for the ROYAL KIT to grant us an audience.