A
beaver pond, that had gone undetected because of the tall wetland
vegetation, became visible after a late winter snowfall flattened that
vegetation. It had been built the previous summer and fall. Sally and I
were driving down the road a mile from our house when we observed it and
watched a bald eagle go into a sudden stoop toward a wood duck. The
frightened duck shot down over the dam and escaped downstream. A few
days later, I entered a small blind on the edge of the pond 45 minutes
before sunrise. That quickly grew from a session to an obsession and
then to "A Year at a Beaver Pond." Dozens of pages of field notes and
thousands of photos provided the foundation for a story. With this book,
you too can sit by the dam and envision what transpires at that tenth
of an acre pond.
Though small, that mini ecosystem adds dramatically
to the adjacent habitat. In the sediment beneath the pond, a myriad of
insect larvae feed on deposited organic matter. Most of them, at some
stage in their metamorphosis, become food for fish, birds, raccoons, or
larger insects. In turn, fish become food for larger fish, birds, and
mammals. This book is the product of observing insects, toads, and trout
along with 61 species of birds and nine species of mammals that were
drawn to the footprint of the pond. By the footprint, I mean the pond,
the dam, and the vegetation growing at the immediate edge of the pond.
Otter
were elusive until one finally decided to frolic in the magical early
morning light. A beaver even used a rock for a dam repair. Warblers,
swallows, flycatchers, and waxwings fed on insects from tiny moth flies
to long-legged craneflies. The trout feeding activity peaked when dozens
were jumping during the midge hatch. A raccoon brought her young ones
to sift through the sediments for edible morsels. Sandpipers and snipe
probed the shallow water and the mudflats for earthworms and larvae.
When mudflats were exposed, mink, a cottontail, and many birds used them
for travel and feeding. The little remnant willow near the blind was
searched by small birds, used as a landing spot by those feeding on
flighted insects, and used by kingfishers and herons that fed on trout.
Jewelweed, blooming on the dam, enticed hummingbirds and bumblebees.
The
ecological wonder of beaver ponds helps establish a sense of the value
of beavers. By gradually overcoming the bias that they are just a
nuisance, perhaps at some point, we will be able to tolerate half of the
population that inhabited this continent before the massive fur harvest
decimated them.
