This afternoon at 1:00 pm, Worth A Dam’s Linda Meza will be talking about the effect of beavers in the watershed with other guests, Lisa Owens-Viani and Mitch Avalon. Tune your radio to 94.1 FM KPFA in Berkeley or listen live here. I, sadly, will be laboring at the day job to support my “costly beaver habit” so listen close and tell me all about it! Archive here until August 21st.
The radio opportunity, and my interview next Saturday with Dave Egbert came from the flurry of attention to our mink. It’s funny how we can stand around spouting “Keystone Species” over and over for two years but nobody believes you until you snap some great mink photos and get a biologist to say its important! Hrmph! We knew it was important back in 2007.
Still, Joe Eaton’s new article on the mink and the habitat is a lovely read at the Berkeley Daily Planet. (We here at Worth A Dam consider it our special duty to keep Joe busy!)
The wildlife scene at the beaver pond in downtown Martinez continues to surprise observers. Last year, in addition to the beavers, muskrats, river otters, turtles, and herons, someone spotted a single mink. Now there’s an entire mink family.
Beaver advocate Heidi Perryman and photographer Cheryl Reynolds observed them on a recent July evening near the beavers’ main dam, where Escobar Street crosses Alhambra Creek. If you visit the Martinez Beavers site (www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress), you can watch four young mink cruising around like a paddling of ducklings in Reynolds’ video. Furry ducklings with sharp little teeth. The mink appeared to be using a muskrat burrow on the side of the pond.
Um…Perryman’s video…but thanks for the plug! It’s interesting to read his discussion of the meaning of Minks in the watershed. Because they are at the top of the food chain they are an important indicator of pollution, so these 5 mean our water is looking pretty good. It’s amazing to me how little is known about minks, since they aren’t a profit making industry any more, or a profit destroying pest, no one is researching them. I wrote our friend Bob Arnebeck who spends all his time looking at wild things, and he had this to say about mink.
Minks seem to like to raise their pups close to civilization. I never see them in
the remote beaver ponds. There are four pups down at our community’s
“main dock”.
Bob is an avid observer of wildlife, and a challenger of classroom learning in favor of hours of actual watching and paying attention. You can check out his website on minks here. In the meantime, enjoy Joe’s article which is a lovely reminder of why minks matter.
Don’t forget to listen at 1:00!
Photo: Cheryl Reynolds
