Tag: Wild Birds Unlimited

Make new friends, but keep the old….

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational May 10, 2014

Off to Wild Birds Unlimited Mother’s Day event this morning to make new beaver friends. Thought I’d put this together and bring it for our display so folks know what’s coming next week. There are new clips released to day here. Have fun. Meanwhile I just heard from Jari that her interview will air on animal house at noon today, which is 9 here. Catch the interview online WAMU here or catch it online later here

@JariOsborne talks about her new @PBSNature film “Leave it to Beavers” today at noon on @wamu885 and @wamuanimalhouse pic.twitter.com/gwCxV0ToZ6

I’ll be busy promoting how important birds are to beavers and plugging the documentary. I’m trying to prepare myself for the number of well-meaning phone calls and emails I will receive when it airs, telling me that there was ‘something about beavers the other night’. It’s evidence of a message getting out there, and it’s good that people think of me but to be honest, it kind of drives me a little insane that people wouldn’t think I know already.

The owner of Wild Birds Unlimited, Mike Elliot, is a generous host, and the exhibits get shade, drinks and pizza. Mike has already committed to the beaver festival, which is very nice of him. It should be a lovely and cheerful day. There was a blurb about it on Joan Morris earlier in the week, and it will be fun to see Gary Bogue again.

Amazing article from Vermont where there was a dam washout and road damage. The reporter talked to all the right people and still managed to make it a pro-beaver piece, quoting our old friend Skip Lisle, who I haven’t heard from in ages. Delighted to see he’s still doing God’s work and spreading the word aptly. Nice to see Patti Smith stick up for beavers too, wonder how the book launch went?

Want to reduce flooding? Leave it to beavers

Breaches can be avoided through the use of flow devices, which keep culverts open. Skip Lisle, a Grafton, Vt., resident, is known for inventing two beaver dam pipes that he said create “permanent leaks” in beaver dams and prevent reservoirs from getting too big. Lisle’s inventions — the Castor Master and The Beaver Deceiver — allow for a steady release of water. He told the Reformer a dam breach is usually a sign that beavers have left the area, because the animals constantly maintain the structures, which are in a never-ending state of decay. This decay that beavers are always working to counter causes dams to become uneven and erode in certain spots.

Great article, we need that reporter in California. Now we’re off to preach the beaver gospel to bird lovers. Should be a great day.

Rewilding with beavers

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental October 6, 2013

Author J.B. MacKinnon argues for ‘rewilding:’ helping nature revive

J.B. MacKinnon’s new book, The Once And Future World, makes the case for rewilding – creating conditions that will support wildlife so animals and plants can thrive there again.

Now we talked about J.B. Mackinnon’s book back when I was just intrigued – but I had no idea it would be such a readable, riveting, treatise that was such an obvious secret gift to the beaver advocate. You should pick up your copy right away and get ready to look at every patch of land around you, and ever creature that lives there, or might live there, differently.

J.B. MacKinnon wants to get wild from The Tyee on Vimeo.

One of the passages I was most gripped by described our uniquely human response to extinction. We first insist that it will never happen, that it couldn’t happen, and that it hasn’t happened. (In fact up into the 1800’s it was a religious affront to even imagine that man could undo God’s handiwork.) Extinction wasn’t possible. And then once it was obvious we moved almost seamlessly into believing the animal in question NEVER EXISTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Just like beavers in the Sierras, or in coastal rivers, or Martinez for example.

The psychology of our understanding of the natural world has never made as much sense to me as it does after reading his book. I am incapable at looking at the urgency of the November 7, 2007 meeting as anything other than a community’sdesperate need to Rewild itself. Martinez should be a beacon on a hill for other cities to emulate, and our living, changing beaver ponds are a testament to renewal.

What can individuals in cities do to contribute to rewilding?

Rewilding really can be as straightforward as putting up a birdhouse. There are in all cities, and especially a place like Vancouver, organizations dedicated to ecological restoration. Also take some time to learn the history of nature and the historical ecology of this area because, when people do that, they almost always seem to find it absolutely fascinating to learn, for example, that there may have been California Condors flying over Burrard Inlet 250 years ago when the nearest California Condors are a thousand kilometres away in California today. The other thing individuals can do is actively reconnect with nature.

Or save some local beavers, for instance.

Speaking of saving beavers, Worth A Dam made a good impression at the 22 anniversary of Wild Birds Unlimited in Pleasant Hill. The awesome and retired Gary Bogue was there with his increasingly awesome replacement Joan Morris. There were displays from Mt. Diablo Audubon and Mike Marchiano the naturalist as well as a bald eagle from Native birds and those crazy beaver supporters from Martinez. Highlights of the day were conversations with very smart children who taught me what they knew about beavers. One scholarly boy of about 7 earnestly explained that he has seen in a nature program that beaver only eat the cambium layer underneath the bark. I was so impressed we high-fived loudly.

Another wistful little girl named Anna said that she had read in a book that beavers slap their tails when something is dangerous so that people will “come and help“.

To which I could only reply, “That’s right Anna, and sometimes people do.”

Three

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Educational, Friends of Martinez Beavers May 6, 2011

Gary Bogue: Wild birds help us connect with nature

If you like wild birds, you will love Native Bird Connections.

This wonderful nonprofit organization has a beautiful and beloved collection of live, tame, nonreleasable eagles, falcons, hawks and owls that it uses to educate groups of all ages. They work with these magnificent birds to bring the wonders of nature up close and personal to thousands of our children every year by visiting classrooms all over the East Bay.

Last year Native Bird Connections presented 584 programs that touched the lives of 17,792 people of all ages — including schools, scouts, senior living programs, after school enrichment, state and national park programs. As Native Bird Connections supports our children in their search for knowledge of the natural world around us, this organization also needs our financial support to help them survive these tough times.

To help us support this vital organization, Wild Birds Unlimited of Pleasant Hill, 692 Contra Costa Blvd. (across from Sun Valley Shopping Center) is holding “A Day for Mom & A Day for Mother Nature,” 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.

Wild birds AND Gary Bogue AND the Martinez Beavers. What could possibly be better than that? We’ll be there answering questions and talking castor, so maybe you should stop by to hear the latest! Guess how many beavers we saw this morning? I’ll give you a hint. It rhymes with their favorite word.

Wild Birds Unlimited

heidi08 Uncategorized May 8, 2010

Worth A Dam will host a table today at this magical store in Pleasant Hill. If you’ve never been you should stop by and look at their track-stopping aviary where brightly colored exotic birds sing and flutter in perfect comfort. If you’re a regular you should still stop by and pick up some spring seed and a lovely card or gift for mom. Wild Birds has been a big supporter of the beavers since way back when, and donated to our festival last year in several generous ways. Today I’ll be helped by Scott of JournOwl, who has been interested in contributing to the beavers and is also working to network with a community of supporters for his burrowing owls. It should be a friend-filled day. We always have fun at their shows. Remember this from last May?

One of most the delightful moments at the Wild Birds Unlimited fair was an approach from a retired teacher named Virginia, who stood patiently while I was talking to someone else and silently waited with a furry beaver puppet on her hand. She explained that her (3rd grade?) elementary classroom had been the “busy beavers” and that a parent who hand made puppets had made her the beaver original.

Now I’m a big fan of folkmanis, but this beaver was adorable, and had the slightly scruffy well loved look that told me he had a very active child-cuddled life.

(You’re all familiar I trust with the story of the velveteen rabbit and what it means for a favorite stuffed animal to become “real”? Well this beaver was well on its way…)

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day. “Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

Virginia thought that since she wasn’t in the classroom anymore, she would give it to me to use in future child beaver presentations. She had carried it in a plastic baggie all the way to the bird store because she knew Worth A Dam would be there. She was absolutely delighted with the idea that the beaver would continue helping children.

As freely as this gift was offered, I knew it couldn’t be mine. This was a precious totem of her heroic adventures in the classroom battlefield and the light in her eyes told me it reminded her every time she held it why she started teaching in the first place. We agreed that she would keep the puppet, and that she would let me hold it for a while and take a picture with her iphone (of which she spoke so fondly I thought it might also be becoming “real” too…) and she would send me the photo when she could.

The moment I slipped on the puppet I could practically feel the energy and echos of a room full of laughing children. A sudden need to make a beaver voice possessed me, and I knew the first thing out of that beavers mouth would have to be “oh no! mayor rob was trying to kill me!” by the time he got to the sheetpile paneling in their lodge the beaver would have descended into a George Carlin monologue that wasn’t safe for public viewing.

I extracted him unwillingly from my hand, patted the beaver’s head and furry tail and handed him gently back, suggesting she poke some holes in that plastic bag.

Thanks Virginia, for sharing your very special gift with me, and reminding me how our seamstress beavers can thread the needle of community spirit to stich perfect strangers together.

New Friends

heidi08 Beaver News, City Reports October 4, 2009

Photo: Cheryl Reynolds

This majestic golden eagle from Native Bird Connections was our neighbor yesterday at the Wild Birds Unlimited Open House. Two eagles can definitely out-draw some chatty women with beaver pictures, but it was lovely to be in the shadow of their greatness. The day started out with a stranger walking up in a worth a dam t-shirt, which is always great fun. Then a fantastic chat with MDAS about finding help for their web page which included many lovely compliments about ours. (Thanks Michael, wherever you are!) I then learned that the MDAS member had attended a meeting recently in Oakland where one of the others was wearing a t-shirt advertising an actual dam with the slogan “Worth A Dam” on the front. (!!!) A good idea is always stolen.

We met a charming young woman who had attended the November meeting at the High School. I’m always fascinated when I meet people who were there, who cared passionately, but who didn’t speak up because others seemed to have the issues covered. All day we were able to have a nice discussion with the herb society about beavers being a keystone species, and chat with a very interesting woman who works for the city of Berkeley and knew Janet Kennedy from way back in her “salad days”. She was very disappointed to learn that she was not pro-beaver, and gave us suggestions about winning her support.

Later in the day came an intriguing conversation with an serious-looking man who stopped to talk about beaver management, and then about “city management”. It turned out he was very instrumental in the fight to block the Tony La Russo project at Hidden Lakes Park, remember that? No one objected to ARF, just the location of carving out their very limited recreation space. He talked being notified about the issue at the last minute (No!) and and a city that made a poorly thought-out plan with no regard to its residents.(No!) and dealing with several sneaky Brown Act Violations (NO!).

The meeting was right before thanksgiving, and he had printed flyers from his office and called all his friends and neighbors to attend. Gary Bogue was involved, and here’s the part of the story I just love. Apparently Gary knew a young woman who had been birding Hidden Lakes for the past 6 years, and had taken meticulous notes on what she’d seen where. Turns out there were more variety of birds in Hidden Lakes than in all of Briones, including one very rare bird right at the location of the intended ARF building. Game. Set. Match.

They eventually won their case, and got the project stopped. He commented wisely that one of the best parts for him was letting the children see that civic response could be important and powerful, and that every voice could participate. It reminded me of a certain November 7th, nearly two years ago, when uptown, downtown and out of town got together for a dynamic civics lesson.

One of the things we talked about was the “Great Highway Four Divide”. I told him how much power and influence I thought south of 4 had, and he smiled with surprise, saying “Wow, we always feel ignored.” I thought that was funny, and important. I definitely think its the reason we were successful at that November meeting, because both sides of four were there with a powerful voice. It made me think that finding common ground between these places would be powerful and hugely healing for the city. The truth is both areas feel their needs are ignored in critical ways, and share an inherent mistrust of the other. It is probably no accident that our working against each other allows the council more freedom to push their own agenda forward.

Divide and conquer.