I have very exciting news for you today, but first a very thorny question that has plagued me half the night. What is wrong with me? Why are my powers of persuasion so completely lacking? I’m referring, of course, to the vote you didn’t cast yesterday for Beaver Whisperers. Where did I go wrong? Was it my sales pitch? Our website stats tell me that on any given day some 600 people are reading this site, and I see 40 of you went and voted. That means I completely failed to persuade 560 people who ostensibly care about beavers. What is the matter with me?
You can vote until Friday, its super easy and you don’t have to register, and technically you’re not voting not for the thing you haven’t seen yet but for the dam cam you CAN see any time you wish. Maybe I didn’t implore enough. Maybe I’m too bossy. Maybe you were busy with the carpool and the cable bill, but please go vote. If it wins the CBC is way more likely to do another beaver project down the road, and more people will learn how good beavers are. We all want that, right?
Alright, now speaking of the CBC there’s a bright and shiny new beaver website on the block. 
It’s cleverly called “Leave it to beavers : watershed stewardship”. It’s a joint venture by the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area (ASCCA) and the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation. Seems they bit the bullet and undertook a beaver relocation a while ago onto their vast conservation land and are using students and citizen science to keep track of the difference it is making. You can practically still see the price tag on the websites involved, shining with their resident Glynnis Hood, but their teacher section has nothing in it and can you believe they do not mention the valiant effort of Martinez or Worth A Dam at all? Well, I’ll do what I can to change that. In the mean time, welcome to the ‘hood!
(Pun intended.)
Now onto the exciting beaver news! Last night was action packed at the dam. The water was clear and you could see the lovely webbed feet of the kits, junior and mom. The third dam has been built up considerably, and its practically wider than the secondary now. Obviously the beavers have a vision for their habitat that they haven’t included me in.
That’s our kit from last year. Isn’t he turning out lovely? How much do you wanna bet that third dam is mostly his work? The kits were in fine form and eager to follow Jr around doing everything he did. We probably saw all three, but one at a time so its hard to be sure.
We have one kit that is still very much a baby, not wanting to do more grown up things like his siblings. In case you’re not sure what it looks like when a kit acts like a baby, watch him eat.
Mom came out and went straight to work on the secondary dam. That is definitely HER responsibility and she takes it very seriously. She swam around with one of the kits a bit to make sure they were interested.
Then Heidi put her camera away, satisfied with working beavers well on their way to a mature family. The couple beside us we had met at Wildbirds. She tabled for Audubon and we were busily chatting away when we saw one of the kits come up beside mom and plop some mud onto the dam where she was working. The kit dove and got some more. Then paddled away and came back with a stick to add in its place. Even when Mom swam away, satisfied that the leak was patched, that kit kept working.
5 months old and well on his way to being a real beaver!
