Out For A Swim

Hope to see you there!!!

heidi08 Creek Seekers Poetry Contest, Earth Day, Educational, Environmental, Festival April 17, 2009

You are going to have SUCH a great time if you come to this event. Bid on the silent auction, listen to the bagpipes, talk with John Muir’s grandson, hear Gary Bogue and make a beaver home out of clay. You might also tuck some dollar bills into your wallet to enter the CREEK SEEKERS EXPRESS raffle for two first class tickets aboard the Amtrak journey narrated by the marine curator of the Oakland Museum and hosted by the San Francisco Estuary Project. (Raffle benefits Worth A Dam) If you’re a lucky winner you will be able to see new footage of our beavers at a dynamic presentation at Armando’s and meet some remarkable people.

Whether you enter or not, come to the event and learn about Muir’s legacy, meet your neighbors, and have a grand time. You don’t want to miss the first viewing of the remarkable beaver habitat diorama! See you there.

Kit-Napped!

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers elsewhere April 16, 2009

So this little fellow was found yesterday in downtown Hutchinson looking “distressed” next to a manhole and a nearby watcher called Advance Termite Pest Control to come take care of the problem. The article speculates that the yearling was probably trying to get to “another beaver down there”. With a few magical phone calls,”Termite” (as he was cleverly dubbed by his captors) was invited on an all expense paid trip to the Hutchinson Zoo, whose own beaver had, sadly, just died two weeks ago. The article goes on to speculate that “Because the beaver was on land instead of in the water it was easy to trap without harming it.” And for the past few days the beaver has been enjoying a bowl of carrots under zoo quarantine.

Now before I let slip the dogs of war, let me say that putting a beaver named Termite in the zoo is much, much better than doing the what mostly happens to things named termite. I’m sure the zoo director is very well intentioned in offering him asylum and the beaver equivalent of “three hots and a cot” (three cools and some pools?)

But SERIOUSLY???

Lets start at the beginning. That beaver wasn’t standing lost by a manhole because there was another beaver down there (sewer beavers? like the pale new york alligator myth?) He heard running water and he wanted to get back to it. He’s a disperser, leaving his family as they do and going overland as they do, to look for his new start in life. It is heartbreaking to me that this adventure now ends in concrete.

And second, if you are looking outside and see a beaver and wonder who to call, Advance Termite Pest Control is probably not the most compassionate choice.

And third, if you want to pat yourself on the back for not harming a beaver by trapping him on land, you might have a conversation with this lady, who has done it for a living since Reagan was president.

I could go on…but I’m late for work…here’s my letter and maybe you want to write one of your own.

Dear Hutchinson Zoo Director Charlotte Poepperling,

Yesterday’s news speaks excitedly of the new beaver successfully displaced to your zoo. It is certainly much better that the little confused disperser (juvenile seeking his fortune) is protected at a zoo rather than killed by an exterminator or hit by a car. Surely you can imagine, though, that not everyone shares your same enthusiasm about the “kit-napping”.

Beavers are a keystone species, and contribute in the wild by increasing bird and wildlife, improving water quality, trapping silt and filtering water, and making habitat for other popular game animals. A huge national conference was just held in Washington state regarding the use of beavers as aquatic engineers to regulate drought conditions. The idea that one juvenile picked up off the street wins the opportunity to replace your last beaver specimen that died, saddens me.

I understand that zoo’s have an important role in helping children and families understand wildlife and our own role as responsible stewards. But you’d be teaching the children of Hutchinson much more if you found a suitable relocation site for “termite”, allowed him to be reintroduced, and brought the children into helping observe and document his improvements to the habitat.

Worth A Dam would be happy to help you connect with interested professionals, enlist supporters, and educate your young animal lovers.

Heidi Perryman. Ph.D. President & Founder Worth A Dam

www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress

April 15 Tango

heidi08 Recent Sightings April 16, 2009

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Fde1PIucS4]

This is what you missed wednesday morning.

Castor Gladiator

heidi08 Beaver News, Recent Sightings April 15, 2009

This morning Linda and I caught a grand display of beaver prowess when two kits took on a massive wrestling match in the water by the dam. Mom was on the other side making sure there was plenty of mud on the downstream, and for a while juniors 1 & 2 were hard at work laying mud upstream.

After some fairly adept poking of sticks through the dam, the children decided life was too short not to fool around a bit. They embarked on some fairly epic struggles trying to dunk each other or just make the other one give up. This produced a water tango worthy of the Spanish channel, and was lovely to see.

Mom was in full display, and I wanted an inspiring picture of her being very pregnant. I was only able to achieve one of her being very blurry. Here’s Cheryl Reynolds picture from last year to remind you what a pregnant beaver looks like and if that isn’t clear enough, come down some morning and see for yourself.

Blackberry time…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental April 11, 2009

One thing I discussed with Felix our tree-faring biologist was the seasonal nature of beaver diets. Ours seem to start enjoying blackberry bushes with the warmer months, and sure enough we saw two kits munching down on them this morning. One was doing the lovely reach under the trailing branches, and the other had hiked right onto the bank to munch at close range. Later he brought a stash of branches into the old lodge which seems to be functioning now like a picnic table. The dams look lovely, and the song sparrows and swallows are back in full force. It’s worth a morning walk if you’re so inclined.

Beaver friend Lisa Owens-Viani from the SFEP directed me to the March issue of the Chesapeake Bay Journal which has a host of articles on beavers.This delightful quiz is from educator and designer Kathleen Gaskell, and you should all do very well on it. The test construction-trained psychologist in me has a problem with number 2, and number 9 is actually a matter of some controversy, but its a fun challenge to your beaver brains.

1. When a beaver swims underwater, its heart beat drops to half of its usual rate and it uses up to 75 percent of the air in its lungs. (For a comparison, humans use 15 percent of the air in their lungs.) This allows the beaver to stay underwater for about how long?

A. 5 minutes
B. 10 minutes
C. 15 minutes
D. 20 minutes

2. True or false? When born, kits (baby beavers) are well-furred, have open eyes and are ready to enter the water within 24 hours. They are adept swimmers within two days.

3. True or false? On land, mother beavers have been observed carrying their kits with their forepaws and on their tails.

4. True or false? All beavers build dams.

5. Instead of months, Algonquin-speaking tribes’ gave each full moon its own name based on a natural event that usually took place at that time. Beaver Moon is the time of year when beavers are most likely to be seen because they are actively preparing for the cold months ahead. Which month does Beaver Moon refer to?

6. The average beaver today weighs 45-60 pounds and is 3-4 feet long. About 10,000 years ago, a giant beaver roamed North America. How big was it?

A. 150 pounds, 5 feet long
B. 300 pounds, 6 feet long
C. 400 pounds, 8 feet long
D. 500 pounds, 10 feet long

7. Beavers were once found in Great Britain. The word “beaver” is thought to come from an Old English word, “beofor.” What does beofor mean?

A. Brown animal
B. Moat builder
C. Paddle tail
D. Tree feller

8. True or False? In the winter, when ice makes it difficult to leave a frozen stream or river, beaver will eat fish living under the ice.

9. After man, which of these animals poses the greatest danger to beavers?

A. Bears
B. Foxes
C. Mink
D. Otters

Answers

1. C 2. False – Kits are adept swimmers at about one week. The rest of the statement is true. 3. False 4. November 5. A. 6. C 7. A 8. False, beavers are strict herbivores. In the winter, they feed on a host of logs and limbs that they have stuck into the stream or river bottom earlier in the year. 9. Otters. They are able to swim up the entrances of the beavers’ lodge, where they prey on the kits.

Kathleen A. Gaskell, the layout & design editor for the Bay Journal, has been involved with several environmental programs for children.