Dealing with 2-Legged Rodents

Click to enlarge. I still have to practice a bit. It's pretty easy to spot where I stitched this together.

Sherwood Beavers Update May 14, 2012

There were two surprises on today's walk!

The Beavers' Neighborhood

There isn't a lot of news about the beavers, but this video provides you with a little perspective of the pond area and some of the beavers' neighbors.

The Beaver's Neighbors

The beavers have been uncharacteristically quiet so last night I decided to try to get their attention. Their dam is built in such a way that if we ever need a relief valve, the far end on the dam is perfect. About a minute's worth of work will breech the dam and allow additional water to flow into the basin. More work would give more of a flow, but last night I just spent a minute to get nice flow of water moving across the barrier. In the past, even this amount of flow triggered a reaction from them.

I set out the trail camera to see how they would react. In the past, this action was met with an immediate reaction and I would find the dam repaired the next morning. When I checked this morning, nothing had been done. After checking the trail camera, I saw that at about 9:00 PM and midnight a beaver checked it out, but he did nothing.

Could it be that with the past three days of rain they are happy with the level of the pond? In actual fact, the level is higher than it has ever been in the past, even though the clearing of the culvert has resulted in a constant flow from the upper pond to the lower pond, with a corresponding rise in the lower pond level by at least a full foot!

So today, lacking beaver shots, we will take a look at a few things I saw going on around the pond yesterday.

Sherwood Beaver Update - May 9, 2012

Sherwood Beaver Update - May 6, 2012

Well so far the culvert protection fence is working better than anticipated.  Clearing the culverts dropped the level of the basin anywhere from 1-2 feet as witnessed by this clump of grass.

The low water level in the basin has revealed at least a half dozen leaks along 150 feet of dam.  These leaks were what filled the basin and prompted the beavers to originally block the culverts. 

The sound of running water from at least three of the leaks, is sufficiently fast and loud enough to alert the beavers.  However, they are doing nothing about them, probably because there is no way for them to effectively deal with them.

We expected the beavers to begin damming around the fence, but it the half dozen leaks are resulting in a significant outflow, both in volume and sound. This is what currently has their attention.

You may remember that right after the installation, they make a pretty good attempt to block the outflow, but seemed to give up.  I cleared that first attempt and began watching their reaction.  This animation shows three days worth of activity at the culvert. I'll continue the watch in the coming days.

My Bushnell Trophy Camera arrived yesterday.  I've been working with it to determine the best settings and to get a feel for the range and triggering sensitivity.
Right now my house cats are the subjects of my studies, but within a few days, I'll see if I can position it to catch the beavers in action around the outflow of the culvert.

Sherwood Beaver Update - May 3, 2012

Over the past year, the beavers have responded rapidly and forcefully each time we attempted to clear the culverts. However, the culvert protection cage we installed last week, seems to have given them reason to pause. This abbreviated video shows what they beavers have done in response to our latest actions.  A longer version with additional background information can be viewed here.

Introducing the Beavers of Sherwood Glen

I'm late!  To be more accurate, this blog is late.  I probably should have started it two years ago, when I first began watching the Sherwood Glen beavers, but I didn't.  I didn't even start it last April when they completely dammed four, two-foot diameter culverts that separate our upper and lower ponds and prompted us to take action.

And so I now offer you the slightly late story of the beavers of Sherwood Glen.  The detailed story of what transpired from April 2011 up until today can be found in presentations available via the tabs at the top of this page.

In the coming weeks and months, I hope to have more video of wildlife, the beavers in action, and their impact on the ecology of the pond and population of the condos.
A very brief overview of the past year is covered in this video, and from this point on, the blog will follow the activities of the beavers and other wildlife in and around the pond.