Bipolar beavers

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers December 2, 2013

Backstory: When I was a junior in high school I tried out for the musical ‘You’re a good man charlie brown!’ and with no acclaim whatsoever got the part. (I bet you can guess who.) That really isn’t important. What is important is that because I rehearsed over and over and heard the music in my sleep sung by people I went to school with every day, the lyrics occasionally play in my head 30 years later.

This especially happens at the beaver dam after a terrible storm has flattened the secondary dam and our poor little beavers are living in a muddy hovel where a rich pond used to be. No one has seen an adult for days and the 6 month old kits apparently have no idea how to fix things on their own. They are completely confused by high tides, which make ample water/then no water at regular intervals. I start to get gloomy in my thinking, and this is the soundtrack that plays and replays, imagining that their parents have left them and the kits are left vainly trying to scratch out a meal from blackberries and gnarled roots.

Then just like Snoopy I’m shaken from my grim reverie by a bright email from Jon this morning, who walked the dog at 5:00 am before heading in for day shift.The beavers aren’t dead or lonely! And they have a grown up to help them work on the dam! And we’ll have a beautiful secondary soon! Just like we do every year!

Beavers everywhere this morning! Saw all three kits, two were “working” on the dam, little tiny handfuls! Also Mom cause one of the kits followed her back in to the bank hole.

Whew! Talk about an emotional roller coaster. (What must parents go through? Beavers can’t even drive!) It has gotten slightly easier than it was that first winter, when I had no idea what to expect and the experts all told us that the beavers had moved on. You would think after 6 years I wouldn’t worry – but it’s more accurate to say I at least know I shouldn’t worry. Of course I do anyway. It’s just another of the many moody adventures in following a family of beavers I guess. Who knows, I assume the flooding drives out the adults because there’s not enough room in the bank holes for everyone. But maybe mom and dad stay a way for a while to get the kids motivated to work for a living? Ms. Glass half full would mention that there has been a beautiful great blue heron hanging at the ripped dams, enjoying the escaping fish. She even beaked it out with a night heron wednesday when they were both greedy for the best position. I’m just happy our kits are doing what they need to do and have some adults to show them how.

Oh, our Charlie Brown never made it to the stage, btw. My english teacher (who was the director) decided that he suddenly needed a divorce from his wife (who was the piano player), and the entire production was scrapped.

Broadway mourns I am sure.

Bring in the Calgary?

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions May 13, 2013

Calgary’s Busy Beavers

Armed with incisors that don’t stop growing and a tail that everyone knows for a much different, definitely more delicious reason, the North American Beaver is quite the amazing critter. Using those incredible teeth, the beaver will chew down a tree in only a few hours that took years to grow. The beaver will then use that tree to build a dam, sometimes longer than a kilometer in length. As water pools behind the newly created dam, a pond is created. The water gets deeper and the pond grows larger, giving the beaver better access to the forest and trees beyond. A beaver is safest in the water, once on land it is incredibly vulnerable to predators like coyotes or wolves. So as the pond grows, so does the beaver’s safety net.

Isn’t it nice to read a story about beavers that isn’t about whether or not to kill beavers? And one published with actual photos of actual beavers and not otters or nutria or muskrat? Calgary is about 10 miles north east of Vancouver (everything in Canada is so far apart!) but they’ve clearly benefited from the fur-bearer defenders education. The article even mentions the park system wrapping trees!

With so much force, it’s no wonder that in our parks, such as Carburn, metal fencing has been placed around many of the trees to protect them from the ever-growing teeth of our must powerful rodent. As the family of beavers in Carburn Park eat their way through what trees haven’t been fenced off, it’s only a matter of time before the young kits found there, move on to start their own lives and their own ponds. It takes only the sound of trickling water to trigger the construction of a dam. With more dams, come more ponds and wetlands which benefits so many different animals. As they flock to the new, lush habitat, you have to wonder if they ever say thank you to the mighty beaver.

The article ends with this lovely photo by someone named Brendan Troy, who has clearly been keeping a close eye on these beavers. It makes me remember so fondly our 2008 kits and how much fun it was to watch them wrestle. I sure hope we have two this year, although the new little one hasn’t shown his face again all week! Which makes me realize that those 3 seconds of video were a very, very lucky fluke!

And speaking of our own beavers, they were a hot bed of activity last night. This time of year always makes it so easy to see so many family members! Even though we never saw the new kit, we saw plenty of action, including this. Since the new adult has appeared, we’ve been seeing more conflict moments between the beavers. last night I was finally able to catch one on film. You can see the argument is pretty half-hearted, ownership gets asserted and no one gets hurt.

Extra beaver?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Environmental May 8, 2013

Last night Worth A Dam trotted expectantly to the water’s edge with lenses of every variety, hoping for a chance to see the new beaver. Others showed up too and we lined the bridge with hopeful faces ready to snap photos. Channel 2 called me about running the video. The tiny beaver was never seen even once. And we were sorely disappointed.

But there were compensations.

Around 7:30 it seemed like the beaver alarm clock went off and there were suddenly beavers in every direction. At one point we saw three adults at once, and then Jr from last year. And then mom from this year. That’s four adults and one yearling and one baby who never came out. Six! When we thought we had four?

Who could the other adult be? Not a stranger or a mate for one of the other adults. Beavers are territorial and only let mated pair breed. How could a new beaver arrive? Strangers aren’t tolerated but family members are always welcomed back. Beavers are just like adult children who sometimes ‘boomerang’ back after an unsuccessful launch. GQ was a returning disperser who showed up at just the right time to raise mom’s orphans. Could this new beaver be one of our 2010 kits who gave up on independence and came home?

What if a returning family member brought a kit and that’s why we’re weirdly seeing them so early? I have heard of beavers letting family members bring offspring and raising them as their own. I guess the only way we can tell is to photograph every beaver in a reaching position – so that we know if more than one of them have teats?

Gosh I miss mom with her lovely tail marking. She was beaver introduction 101.

What is in a name?

heidi08 City Reports April 1, 2013

Martinez renames street to honor rodent mascot

After years of controversy, hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on a retaining wall and 5 beaver festivals, Mayor Rob Schroder announced this morning that he will adopt the suggestion of advocates to rename “CASTRO” street to “CASTOR” street. (Castor is the latin name for beaver)

“It’s a simple change for us, that will really mean something to the city.” the mayor explained wednesday night. “The city spent a lot of time and energy trying to figure out a compromise on the beavers, and the update reflects that.”

In November 2007, 200 people attended a dynamic city meeting to discuss what to do about the beavers. Many were residents who felt passionately that the animals had created a sense of community for the city. Some were business owners who just wanted to avoid a new flooding situation. Forced to compromise the city paid an expert from Vermont to install a flow device that prevented flooding and allowed the beavers to remain. “We worked hard to solve a problem and succeeded.” said the mayor. “Why not switch two letters to commemorate that in a street name?”

Not everybody is happy with the decision. “Those beavers have cost this town enough money as it is” said lawyer Al Turnbaugh whose office is next to the creek. “If Martinez had any sense at all the only memorial we’d be making from those beavers is a hat.”

Public works crews will be repainting the signs starting tuesday morning, and are not enthusiastic about the project either. “Castro street is a lot longer than anyone realizes” complained director Dave Scola. “There are three sections that go all the way to highway 4. That means 29 signs for us to paint.”

But advocates couldn’t be happier. Worth A Dam founder Heidi Perryman said that it will reflect the important story of the beavers role in Martinez. “When else has Martinez ever been on national news? She asked pointedly. “Castro street runs right past city hall, through the center of town, directly to the beaver dam itself. We all had to work together as a community to figure this out. That seems worth remembering.”

The change will be the first of its kind for the city, and for the country, since while there are plenty of Castro streets on the map, (including the infamous district in San Francisco), are no other “Castor” streets listed in the geographic street names for the entire United States.

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Don’t forget to read the date on this story, by the way.