Beavers Swimming on the First Warm Day in March

It was my first "stake out" of the season, and I lucked out. By pure chance, I was at the far end of the lower pond when the beavers came out of their lodge. At first there was one, then two, and at one point I had four in the shot, and a fifth did a tail slap about ten feet from where I was standing. I haven't seen any kits or activity in the upper pond yet.

Here's a five minute beaver ballet.

A Busy Winter

The beavers have not been idol over the winter.  I don't know if it is a reaction to the snow or anticipation of the spring melt and pond level rises, but they have increased the height of their lodge about the water level by about 30%.

I dug back into my archive of pictures and found a few shots that give a perspective of change over the years.  These three shots speak for themselves. (Click on the pictures to enlarge.) You can see some of the winter food cache to the left of the lodge in the October 2014 picture.  It's obvious that as they ate the bark and small branches, they used the large remains to built the lodge skyward.

Unfortunately, while the roofs of our condos survived the snow and ice, the same can't be said for the culvert fence.  The weight of the snow and the rise and fall of the ice, took its toll and the far end of the culvert cage has collapsed.  The good news is that a temporary repair should only take a few minutes and reinforcement can be made later in the spring when Mike Callahan installs the pond leveler.

While the repair should only take a few minutes, I have to make sure I get to the repair before the beavers discover they have access to the culvert.  That mean daily treks to watch for sufficient melting to allow for a rather cold few minutes of repair.  Hopefully my waders are sufficiently insulated.

I know there is a double entendre here about squirrels watching and nuts, but I'll refrain from committing it to writing.  Let your imagination and your conscience be your guide.

They're Baaaaaaaak!

The heavy winter and wet spring of 2010 caused significant leakage in the dam and heavy flow through the culvert.   (For those of you who are new here, it is the sound and feel of running water that simulates the instinct to dam.)

Three years ago, we stymied their efforts to dam the culvert pipes by clearing them and installing a culvert protection cage.  This allowed the ponds to level and controlled the flow through the culvert.

For three years they weren't bothered by the relatively slow and distant outflow, but this winter's snow has caused another dramatic rise in the pond height with a similar impact on beaver activity.  Only now, they are damming the INSIDE of the culvert pipes.

So the struggle for peaceful co-existence is on once again. This is something we have to stay on top of until we come up with a solution.  More rain means more damming.  Dropping pond level will stop the damming.

Right now, the last two of the four culvert pipes are clean. Here I am doing my reverse beaver imitation on the first pipe along with some closing commentary from one of the beavers.

Meet the Baby Beavers of Sherwood Glen Pond

Sherwood Glen Pond had two new residents. Up until tonight, I thought there was just one beaver kit, but I was lucky enough to get about ten minutes of video of TWO.  I have no idea of their sex, but Jill came up with names that are fitting, and unless anyone objects, I would like to introduce you to Sherwood and Glen, the newest residents of Sherwood Glen Pond.