I got an email from beaver friend GH yesterday saying that our beavers had done a little nibbling behind starbucks. Would the city be upset and should the remaining trees be wrapped? We went down this morning to have a look. A tree was felled and mostly chewed on the patch beside the Sharkey building. Another up above ward street. Ahhh the chitter chatter of little teeth in the night.
I don’t think there’s an alarm call. These are scrubby arroyo willow that will coppice and sprout new growth. It was felled onto the bank so it didn’t even block flow. We are currently working with the city engineer on a new tree planting plan for this spring. Stop by and check out how those discerning beavers nibbled around Arroyo and ignored the black willow. Research says the are supposed to eat both, but the beavers are clearly unfamiliar with the data, because they consistently avoid one and chomp the other.
This morning we saw a very hard-working kit “mudding” the dam. He would dive underwater, and carry a mudball with a visible murky trail, and then add it to the dam. He was looking much more adept and clearly enjoying himself. The Mr. and Mrs. Mallard who have adopted the viewing platform waddled close to see if we had any bread to share, and a beautiful egret flew by overhead.
Not bad for sheetpile creek.
By the way, did you see the moon last night? An amazing sliver crescent with a ghostly backdrop of earthshine behind it. It looked for all the world that we were living on a planet in a vast solar system. Who knew?
