Chasing our own Tale

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? January 7, 2016

I was doing some more research on the topic of urban beavers, and was really surprised to come across this bold sentence on a page called “What can beavers do for you?”:

TWC is collaborating with the guidebook authors to add a chapter focusing on urban beaver in the next version of the book to be released next summer.

Of course, all kinds of bells immediately sounded in my brain. Hurray! More people talking about urban beavers! And then: Exactly who ELSE was doing this topic and were they trying to release their chapter before we got around to ours and steal our thunder? Had I tipped our hand by writing about it here and been hoisted on my own petard? Then I put my speculations away and actually read a little more closely.

TWC stands for “The Wetlands Conservancy” and if that sounds vaguely familiar it should. Hmm, who’s the Urban Land Steward for the organization? Kaegan Scully-Englemeyer who just happens to be one of the co-authors of the chapter. Our chapter. That chapter I’m working on. Duh.

OHHHH, okay then.

Guess what I found next? A very lovely column from an old friend.Well not that old, but Simon Jackson of Ghostbear photography was kind enough to donate some of his remarkable images to the auction at the festival in 2014. And pleased when we noticed that his awesome photo was of a nursing female, which he hadn’t seen before. He was a great sp0rt so that makes him pretty friendly.

An Ode to Urban Beaver

The odd thing about this article featured in the Yellowstone Daily is that it allows me to copy the photos but not the text. Which is the opposite of what you’d expect for photos of this caliber. Of course I found a way to do it anyway, but still, it’s odd. It’s hard to see how Urban it is because it just looks beautifully snowy. But I trust Simon, don’t you? Here the beaver is surrounded on either side by photographers.

The amusing thing was that this cooperative beaver disliked Simon’s fiance for reasons known only by the beaver. And would get upset every time she tried to watch him. This bit of beaver quirkiness made me smile.

It’s a lovely article and a fine study of urban beavers. Go check out the whole thing here, and let’s keep our eyes peeled for when our own UB’s return, which I’m feeling right now that they will!

New Beaver Friends….

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Ghostbear photography wrote back to my post:

Heidi – thank you very much for these comments. Your organization is doing amazing work, and we encourage everyone to visit you website for more information. What a great success story in your community!

THANK YOU so much for the bonus information about the nursing female. How did we miss that?!

And when I asked them for a donation for the silent auction at the beaver festival they said

Thank you for your wonderful email. What an amazing story you have! We would love to share a photo with you to help raise money for the event. Let us know which photo(s) you would like and I will fix the watermark and send them your way.

I am curious as to where the Beaver Festival is held in Canada. Simon and I would love to attend one, as we are big beaver fans (as I’m sure you know if you’ve read that post!).

Again, we both just love your email. Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Jill

Jill and Simon are obvious beaver and wildlife friends! They get a link and a prominent place on our blogroll. Thank you so much for responding so positively to our story, and remember that if you photograph beavers you will naturally connect with all kinds of wildlife.

Beavers are the trickle down economy that work!

Beaver Paths

heidi08 Beaver News, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental April 3, 2014

This morning there’s a collection of beaver news on the horizon. The first comes from CSU which reminds us that wolves aren’t the single magic bullet in Yellowstone.

New study shows Yellowstone’s ecosystem dynamics more complex than previously understood

Since their reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park, wolves have been heralded as the controversial savior of Yellowstone’s ecosystem. However, new research by ecologists at Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources proves that many diverse variables must be taken into account to fully understand how ecosystems respond to changes in food web structures.

This research, funded by the National Science Foundation, was a large-scale study that extended across the entire northern range of Yellowstone. The study was a follow-up to more than a decade of research by CSU scientists in Yellowstone, including a 2013 paper that concluded beaver dams’ impact on water levels were equally responsible for vegetation health as herbivore browsing increases caused by the removal of wolves.

I don’t wanna say I told you so, but…

A nice column and an amazing photo from Simon Jackson at Ghostbear photography, who writes (apparently reluctantly?) about an exciting close encounter of the beaver kind. He’s a wildlife photographer whose life will only improve when he spends more time with beavers!

Never get between a beaver and its tree

The rotund, lumberjack beaver, apparently, had a predetermined route for his tree branch and was not going to take the long route to the pond, just because some inconsiderate photographer was blocking the path. The beaver was, no doubt, going to wait me out.

Apparently, a beaver must go where a beaver must go. And if you block its passage, it’ll just wait you out, treating you like the person double parked on a busy street during rush hour. Never say you weren’t warned.

Nice! Simon you say this is your last post about beavers, but I hope you’ve been bitten by the beaver bug and will visit again soon. Maybe in time for the new kits to emerge? It will be a wonderland.

Cheryl just pointed out something I missed! This beaver is a nursing female! That means where ever in Canada this was taken they have kits on the scene. No wonder mom was making a beeline!