With the arrival of the new kit we are getting a the usually flurry of attention. There were articles yesterday in Patch and Gary Bogue, and today in the Gazette. (Although I’m certain I said footbridge not Escobar bridge, but I’m sure the beavers won’t mind!) And I also heard from beaver friend Mayor of Claycord (who also does the East Bay SFGate blog) and he sent his enthusiastic congratulations and said he will run the story today. It isn’t traffic stopping news, I know. But I think the fact that Dad beaver found a new mate and is starting a new family which is being lovingly adopted by the OLD family is a big deal! At the very least, it means that we could continue to have beavers until 2014. Or longer.
Last night Worth A Dam was waiting with lenses in hand, but there was a noisy family with children hopping about and after the usual ‘beaver caution float’ there was a resounding tail slap and no kit appeared. Sigh. Tomorrow maybe? We did see lots of adult beavers, two touching noses which made everyone ‘awww’, and had a great look at Dad who (instead of taking a single willow branch in from our offerings on the bank like the other beavers nipped the ENTIRE bunch at once.) Here’s footage of Dad near the secondary dam. See how his face is paler and bumpier and he seems to have a punk hairdo? We used to be able to ID dad by size alone, but now we have so many adult beavers now it’s better to rely on other clues.
Honestly, we’re a little worried about the 4th of July with all those folks crossing the footbridge just as Jr is waking up. We’ll be there to keep an eye, but hopefully they will have read the Gazette article and will all be standing at the Escobar bridge looking upstream for the new lodge!
Oh and if you feel you can’t live without a festival mug, a key chain or throw pillow, you might appreciate this:
