October 2022
Some of you Bucketeers may recall in 2016 when I first started talking about beavers encroaching on the cow pasture downhill to the east of my 5 acres. Back then it was a few little dams in the upper reaches of the man-made pond to the south. The stream is hardly nothing but bit by bit, a few sticks, mud and vegetation building up, then fresh-cut branches, and within a year the water was reaching to my SE corner. I’d climb over the fence and dig out the dams, slow the beavers down for awhile but, you know, beavers….
By 2018 the beavers moved up to the wooded pasture and started a 100 foot dam with the stream at the low point in the middle. At that time I could reach over the fence with my long-handle potato rake and open a hole. After reading about beaver prevention I tried one suggestion of putting a 3-4” diameter pipe at ground level in the dam. The beavers buried the intake….. and now the dam is over 3 feet high.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns spinning around us.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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By 2020 the beavers had another dam farther upstream in a very big U shape, a very long and narrow U. That one is close to 2 feet high. That sucked since the retained water saturated the ground and raised the water table so now my lower woods does not drain as it once did.
But there are pluses to the beaver pond.
I get to see occasional waterfowl — Egrets, ducks, a female Anhinga once. There’s the time I watched a RS Hawk drown a duck. Amazing to see the hawk hold it down, struggle to drag it to shore near the dam, not dead so it dragged it back into water, and finally off into woods out of sight for its feathery meal.
Snakes spook me every time. Other than a cottonmouth peacefully sunning, all I see and hear is a splash. The year the RS Hawks had 3 chicks, I watched a parent come in with a headless water snake; sit in the Live Oak holding the snake in one talon til it was dead; and then delivering to the nest where the other grabbed it and took it off to make sure it was dead — or something…
Eventually the otter came over towards me, about 15 yards away and set the fish on a log.
I’m curious about the sounds the otter makes — sorta like a snuff, or maybe a snort. At first I thought was because of me but after awhile I don’t think it cared about my presence. I considered running up to house for the Nikon telephoto but why lose the moment. After 20 minutes I went back to clearing some of the invasive plants, took a few flower photos, and left it in peace.
Not everyone watches U-tubes but the videos (22-24 seconds each) are better quality than the photos. Also I may not remember the process for uploading and then embedding so we’ll see.
well the process is different from last I used it. I struggled to publish before realizing that I am supposed to say it’s made for kids — when what they mean is — it’s OK for kids to see it.
alright — there ya go. Bonus points for whoever can ID the bird calls -— and see ya in the comments with nature observations of your backyard.