I wrote earlier about “Inscrutable Beaver Behavior” where the beavers do something that either doesn’t make sense or something purposeful whose goal is not yet clear to us. A good recent example is the tree mass nibble at the primary dam, resulting in the taking of the largest willow that fell to the bank.
A savvy observer of beaver behavior (like any one of us) would expect that tree to be sliced and diced by all the family members at a castor-thanksgiving feast. That’s what happened the night they took down the big cottonwood by the corp yard last summer. That’s what happened to the big willow dad removed from the Annex the winter before that. Still, since this tree has found its way to the horizontal position, the beavers seem to have lost interest in it. No one has nibbled on it at all.
It fell onto the bank but obviously some human with a fuzzy understanding of the fact that beavers actually walk onto the bank, worked to push it in the water. That meant it fell on the flow device and was in danger of being removed by city staff and being a “wasted willow”. Jon went down on sunday and cut the heaviest part away, so that at least the top of the tree would likely remain in the water.
When will the feeding begin? Who knows. Will the beavers get to eat the willow before the leaves lose their luster? Who knows. Was the entire tree nibble triggered by the drop in temperature? Who knows.
IBB. Inscrutable beaver behavior. We’ll keep you posted. It might make sense later.
Photo: Heidi Perryman
