Ask and ye shall receive, that’s the way it works here at Beaver Central. Yesterday I posted the confusing photo of what appeared to be a beaver with two colors of teeth and friend Lisa Hodge, a wildlife rehabber who has raised beavers, commented that the white wasn’t teeth but a tongue (as Jon believed). She notes if you zoom in you can see a faint hint of orange upper teeth above that.
So mystery solved I guess, although why that particular beaver was sticking out his tongue will remain a question!
Maybe calling ourselves beaver central gives the wrong impression. On Wednesday I got an email from a magazine author in Canada bemoaning the allegations of beaver population explosion the region of Manitoba and wondering if I might I know any local experts to consult? So I spent an hour introducing her to the major players in her home country. And then I received a query from the Quebec Zoo saying they had just received an orphan beaver and how should they care for it?
Do you people do ANY of your own work, I thought?
Of course I sent our orphan care page with plenty of links. And made sure to mention that if they didn’t want more orphans they should stop killing the parents. But my words are a drop in the bucket, I’m sure.
Meanwhile we’ve been busily getting ready for all things festival. I finally have the map in place and I updated the festival page so it links to every exhibitor. Youcan check it out by clicking on the flyer on either margin.
We’ve also been finalizing the magnetic beaver pond, which kids can arrange however they like. We got the idea from the fun board at an International Bird Rescue display where we saw many children happily rearranging the magnets again and again. IBR used a flat metal display but I thought, hey we have that extra metal beaver made for us by Paul Craig when mom beaver died, why not use her? Hopefully it will work as a fun activity for kids to learn about the inhabitants of a beaver pond.
Speaking of inhabitants, there’s a nice little article about beaver and wood ducks from Seaside Oregon where the beaver tales very successful art exhibit has concluded.
Just in from Neal Maine. Lucky 13.
Wood Ducks live in wooded swamps, where they nest in holes in trees or in nest boxes put up near or over water. They are equipped with strong claws that can grip bark and perch on branches. These cavities are typically places where a branch has broken off and the tree’s heartwood has subsequently rotted. Wood Ducks cannot make their own cavities. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Duck/lifehistory
Beavers are responsible for creating the wetlands that the wood ducks call home. Beavers and wood ducks go hand in hand. Woodies are fond of waters with plenty of wooded cover — hence the name — and a new-built beaver pond offers habitat that attracts and keeps wood ducks in the vicinity.
Nice job giving credit where credit is due. I wish someone had filmed Neal’s talk on beavers because I would have liked to see it. Our local friend Brian Murphy has been watching over wood ducks and putting up boxes in walnut creek for a decade. After 10 years of labor he finally got a photo of the babies emerging and sent it excitedly last night. Sometimes good works take time. And sometimes very good works takes a lot of time.
Thanks Brian for your hard work and great photo!
I didn’t find Neal Maine on youtube, but I did find this recently uploaded. It’s a fun watch with lots of pointed credit for beavers.
Meanwhile in Oregon, they had another beaver event Thursday Night based on the Beaver Tales Art show. They have been slowly drawing such important folks out of the woodwork to talk about beaver benefits. Thursday it was the turn of retired biology teacher turned wildlife photographer Neil Maine.
