September 10 the remnants of Hurricane Frances entertained us with over four inches of rain and for two days I kept my walks short and dry. This morning a warm sun made the inevitability of getting wet feet easier to bare. I headed for the South Bay trail over the TI Park ridge and right at the edge of the woods I saw crane flies on a leaf.
They had survived the drenching, and as the photo showed were now mating. Most of the trail was a rivulet of water. Indeed one rivulet was ponding behind a jam of leaves and sticks. If I had seen that in the valley, I might have blamed the beavers.
Water was coming out of the creek draining the first swamps area incuding the beaver patroled Big Pond. Judging from how the tall grasses were washed down, at one point water had probably topped the causeway. I looked for but didn't expect to see otter scats. At the creek draining the second swamp where so many ponds have untended dams, the water was roaring
and I had to cross on the old and rotting log bridge. I went up the New Pond knoll and to my joy there were two fresh otter scats
toward the end of the trail overlooking the New Pond, which of course was now quite full.
This energized my hike with hopes that if I did not see the otters, at least I would see evidence that they headed up along the roaring stream to check out the beaver ponds above. But first I went to check on the Thicket Pond which since it sits at the head of two watershed should suffer few ill effects. The pond was now full and though I saw water below the dam, there appeared to be no leaking from the pond. I headed over to get a good view and photo of the canal and there at the opening from the pond into the canal was a beaver gnawing on a stick. I froze, eased behind a tree and got out the camcorder. The beaver was soon joined by a baby beaver who swam around the adult finding tidbits to eat, careful to stay close.
The adult seemed to pay no attention to it. I watched them for ten minutes and was about to try to ease on by them and continue my hike, when a deer on the ridge behind me snorted twice. Earlier this summer I saw a deer react to the
splash of a beaver's tail by scanning the woods to get a look at me. Today, the beaver seemed to react to the snort. The adult dropped what it was gnawing and with head up so nose was sniffing the air, it swam back toward the lodge. It paused once as if to get something else to nibble, then dove and disappeared. Left behind, the baby swam after, dove and disappeared. When I was watching the two beavers I think I heard humming from the lodge so there are probably more kits. As I walked along and beyond the canal I couldn't tell if beavers had been on that path. Given that the adult and kit were out in the late morning, I'd guess that the heavy rain kept the beavers in their lodge and they were out now to make up for some lost meals. The East Trail Pond filled up nicely and I made the mistake of assuming that seeing the pond cleared of vegetation near the dam meant otters had been foraging there. When I got down to the dam I saw that all the frog bit was flooded over by six inches of water.
I couldn't find scats at the usual latrines which was a pity because the pond was so beautiful I would have enjoyed sitting and watching it for 45 minutes. I sat for ten minutes and then took my old route up the ridges and down to
Otter Hole Pond. I was hoping that pond would be full and reminescent of the good old otter watching days, but it appeared to be only a few inches higher. I made my soggy way out to get a look at the hole in the dam and saw that the water had opened a huge gap pushing what remained of the dam back at that point.
This, and a thick crop of nettles made crossing the dam difficult. At one point I was on hand and knees, perfectly situated to see a squirt of scat left by a passing otter, but there was none. It seemed like the otters had marked the New Pond only and had no interest in the ponds. I still went up to the Lost Swamp Pond. At the Second Swamp Pond dam I could hear the rush of water, but I couldn't see any break in the dam. At the Lost Swamp Pond, I sat on a log and watched before I moved along to check the latrines. Nothing was stirring in the pond but distant ducks. When I checked the old otter trail up the north shore slope, I first noticed some pond grasses pushed up on the bank the way beavers usually do. Then I saw two squirts of scat -- the otters had been through.
I went up and over the ridge but saw no more scats. The trail did looked use, but that may have been the result of the heavy rain. Then I went up to get a look at the upper dam. It was leaking generously and I moved closer to get a
view of that. The principal breaks were along the south end,
away from the creek so repairing should just be a matter of packing in more mud and grass. The Lost Swamp Pond dam was also leaking. As far as I could see just a collection of small leaks over the top. Since the dam is so high the sound of the running water made the leaks seem more substantial than the actually are. In my last hike here, I noticed wide trails in the grass coming out of the pond. I suspected beavers, but today I saw a muskrat scat on a rock where the trail was. I couldn't see anything in particular that the trail was leading to, only more grass. As I continued around to the old otter rolling area, it finally looked like a real rolling area,
and sure enough, I found two more squirts of otter scat. This is the first sign I've had of otters making themselves at home in this pond. I saw something swimming in the pond, but the wake was small like a muskrat. I continued around the pond and was surprised to see a bitternut hickory down.
Beavers had been gnawing on this a long time ago and I think the wind and rain, rather than a fresh beaver cut brought it down. It was heavy with nuts.
Beavers had not trimmed the tree. I checked the old mossy cove for scat, none there, but I think a beaver or two still lodge in the bank lodge there because after I walked around I saw two beavers in the pond, one near the lodge looking at me
and the other swimming out to and along the dam. Perhaps they are on watch for an otter? Anyway, I didn't bother them. Ducks and geese were all there was to see in the rest of the pond, mostly the former. I still had one more pond to
check but there were no beavers out at the Big Pond. I began counting the number of leaks along the long dam but gave up and decided that there was a leak about every two yards, and that maybe a half dozen of them were serious. The biggest leaks were
at the part of the dam just behind the creek.
But there seemed to be no major damage to that portion of the dam. All the logs of the dam remained wanting just more mud and grass patching. There were no scats at the latrine at the south end of the dam which doesn't mean the otters have not been here since this is a huge pond with not a few inaccessible areas to scat on. My shoes were soaked but my socks stayed dry. Amazing as the downpour was, since this has been a wet summer, it didn't radically change the ponds and swamps. As for my theory that the otters would leave the marshes as the river water level went down, with this rain the river recouped its recent losses. While the otters might be beholding to my theory, they couldn't resist the invitation of the roaring streams and they at least went upstream to check out the ponds. Perhaps they'll stay.
September 11 I spent the night at the land where, of course, the beaver-tended pond was quite full, with the two ponds almost merging,
and the little side pool was full too.
I was up with the first barrage from the goose hunters in White's Swamp and got to the beaver pond at about 6:30. Wisps of fog played over the pond and no sooner did I sit in the chair then first one and then another kit swam toward and dove just off to my left, seemingly going into the bank, though my line of site was blocked by the honeysuckles crowding the shore. Then what looked to be a larger beaver swam out of the burrow right below me and without noticing me, swam into the
Teepee Pond. With such an auspicious beginning I was sure that if I could keep track of those three beavers then I could add on others as they appeared and get a complete census of the colony. Of course, I was defeated by the beavers penchant to move about. One kit popped out straight away and swam back to the auxilliary lodge. Then a kit popped up in the pond and swam into the Teepee Pond. My initial reaction was that there must be three kits, but as I sat there with little else to do but reexamine assumptions as soon as they were made, I had to consider that kits moved so
fast and erratically, and seemed to take pleasure in practicing their long distance under water diving, so.... Then I heard gnawing and humming along the obscured bank to the left. The morning continued with more enigmas. What I needed was two or three beavers to swim with each other and then another beaver appear. But for the first time during these morning visits this season, no beavers converged. All were off on their own.
And all I saw seemed to be kits. The larger beaver that swam into the Teepee Pond never reappeared. However I did notice a difference in the kits. One that moved fast and another that still had a silly flip of its tail when it dived.
While I heard the gnawing of wood beside me, the kits appearing in the pond seemed to be after leafs. One even sampled some of the honeysuckle leaves hanging over the pond. By eight o'clock I had a raised the proverbial more questions than I had answered. The sun was flooding the pond, which was nice because I had been chilled. I walked up pond to get a photo of some newly stripped logs at the end of the pond. As I walked by the large juniper bush,
I heard a loud swoosh of water followed by one half as loud. A large beaver surfaced and promptly spashed its tail, and then a kit surfaced. So, I think, I had found my third kit and another adult. The kit swam in circles after the adult disappeared and then it swam into the Teepee Pond. So I think the beavers are using some burrows in that pond. I know of two, but this is the first time I've realized that the beavers use them. Two wood ducks made a brief appearance and even briefly roosted on a low tree limb. I went back to the cabin to warm up and them went out to check on the work the beavers did along the road into the land. They cut a poplar and segmented it into logs on the road.
I went into the woods there and found a large poplar recently cut but hung up.
The beavers dammed the little rivulet coming down from the road,
and they cut some willows near by.
I went up to check a maple I sawed down last year and saw that the beavers had girdled a large red oak and recently gnawed on it.
All its leaves were dead so I'll cut this down for firewood.
When I got home, I took a tour of South Bay in the kayak and thought I saw a few more herons. I didn't see any bryozoa. While they seemed to disappear before the heavy rain, I think I can blame the chill of that rain and the recoup in water level for why no bryazoas are reappearing. Despite its being a
sunny day in the mid-70s, the water in the coves felt cool. The rush of water continues from the creek feeding the north cove. Its flow has broken up the duck weed and even broken up the clumps of algae on the surface of the water and, it seems, relieved some of the grip choking plants had on the water. There was also a new insect joing the aphids, yellow jackets, and dragon flies. This was a small, beige colored gnat, too small to catch and too small to see. I didn't see much new beaver work but noticed some old work, like a large oak girdle at the end of the
north cove.
September 12 I went out after dinner to pay my respects to the Lost Swamp Pond beavers. Two of them were out when I got there and when I parked myself on the north bank rolling area one of them came over to pay its respects, despite another beaver in the middle of the pond splashing its tail
There were two cormorants about. One flew off directly and the other became part of the dead trees behind the dam. An osprey was about but quiet.
All totaled, I think I saw three beavers, perhaps four, and a muskrat came out of the beaver lodge in the middle of the pond. I was losing daylight quickly so I went down to see what was happening in the upper second swamp pond. It was easy to see the dam had been patched and, not well shown in the hazy photo below, the beavers cut down a stubby willow tree.
Indeed I heard a beaver gnawing in the middle of that mass of vegetation. Then another beaver in the pond and evidently heading for the dam, splashed its tail. The wind was at my back so not only did the splashing beaver not continue down to the dam, but the gnawing beaver seemed to make it ways up pond through the vegetation to the channel where it gave me a tail splash too. I went home down the south shore of the Second Swamp Pond, which was quiet, I sat briefly at the rock beside the dam, which continues to be a mecca for mosquitoes. I didn't stay long so my magical vision of otters hardly had a chance to be repeated. I heard a barred owl now and then.
September 13 I had Ottoleo wake me up and I headed out to check for otters a little before 8 am. I went to the Big Pond first via the ridge, crossing the swamp across the Double Lodge Pond dam which, while it still leaks, shows evidence of some repair work, mud and grass pushed up, and in the process the beaver planted a few seeds.
As usual I went past the little pool shaded with willows and noticed that a beaver had nipped a bit of willow. I tried to follow the beaver path to the Big Pond dam, but it wasn't that substantial so I hung a left on a deer path
and went up to the edge of the pond. No otters there, nothing else either. So I went to the Lost Swamp Pond which is where I expected to find otters. The wind was in my favor from the northeast but it was a little strong scudding waves throughout the pond. I headed over to the big rocks on the upper south shore. Even though I saw no otter scats there, I sat down and waited for something to happen. A few ducks in the grasses across from me flew off. A kingfisher was too far away to entertain me. As I stared at the lodge where I hoped to see otters, I notice two outcroppings of burr marigold, not a good sign that otters have been on the lodge, but I must say that little yellow flower, in this case a patch nearer to me, makes for some nice photos.
I checked all the possible latrines as I headed back around the pond. I stopped at the beavers bank lodge since I noticed some willow clippings on top of it.
New, I think and to further prove the beavers were inside I heard a swoosh into the water. Usually a beaver eventually surfaces, but not this time. It's possible it swam right back into the lodge, as I heard some lapping of water from inside. I continued checking latrines and saw nothing fresh. I did launch a dozen small leopard frogs into the pond as I continued nose down along the shore.
Crossing the Upper Second Swamp pond dam, I got a measure of how big the break was. The water seemed to carve out a new channel. Fortunately the beavers had repaired the break and the mud and grass pushed down now made for an excellent dry foot rest.
On the washed out grass I saw at least three dead shiners.
The stick reenforced portion of the dam at the usual channel held without any major overflowing. I wore my boots today so boldly slogged through the grass below the dam thus hurrying my quest for otters but denying me more glimpses of
beaver repairs. The Second Swamp Pond seemed quiet and I went up on the knoll above the bank lodge which looked unused. I was about to take a photo of the patches of grass emerging in front to the lodge indicating how low the pond was getting thanks to the beavers not repairing the leaks caused by the recent flood of rainwater, when I saw something dive in the water a little further out. I knew in an instant that there were otters, but my aging camera had fits before it started and when I finally
focused on the pond, I only saw one otter, a large one, doing some quick foraging along the channels through the grasses. Instead of going out into the broad grass-free expanses of the pond, it found the only beaver channel and headed back toward the lodge where I was standing. Then it fished around some logs, though at times it didn't look to be the same otter, and sure enough after some more bobbing around stumps, another otter was in view. As seems to be her habit, I think the mother left the pup alone for some far reaching solo foraging. If I had had more eyes in my head I might have seen what the pup was doing while I was glued to following the mother. Since the mother swam so quickly I can't honestly say she caught anything, but judging from some of her pauses and the way she tossed her head now and then, I think she was filling up on shiners. They both swam to the dam like they were going somewhere, not foraging, and they disappeared though I didn't see them go over the dam. So I got the camera out and took photos showing how the low the pond was
getting and where the otters had been.
As I looked down at the bank lodge, I thought I saw something move, and then I saw a small otter out in front of the lodge, snorting up at me! It climbed back onto the lodge and a larger otter followed it. They were well concealed by the pile wort and vervain
but I could make out their heads and the tail of the mother.
When they settled down I heard sounds that I associate with nursing. When they ended the pup separated itself from mother. Then they seemed to reorient themselves for a nap and I sat down blessing the wind that was not quite blowing my scent their way. Then like that they were both in the pond. As I moved up the shore trying to get an unobstructed view of them, I thought I saw another otter dive and lay a long trail of bubbles. Finally I got a full view of everything and I saw an otter swimming quickly up the channel toward the upper dam and the two otters from the lodge swim out to the middle of the broad expanse and then turn back, agitated, judging from the chirping I was hearing. So I saw otters defend their territory. Two other times I've seen otters meet like this. The first time, in mid-summer, a mother quickly took her two pups into a lodge when another otter appeared. The next time a mother and two pups tolerated a mother and one pup swimming through the pond, the latter group chirping in alarm all the way. I thought the pup tagging along with mom extraordinary, and I was surprised at how quickly the other otter
fled with not even a look back, and otters are famous for looking back at hazards, especially human. I went back to my perch above the lodge, expecting the otters to swim back to their nest and they did.
They didn't rest for long. They were obviously keyed up and the wind suddenly betrayed me. They both looked up at me and then dove into the pond. I thought they went into the lodge, but they were both soon out of the water, not only
snorting but drawing their purrs into growls. Both swam out into the pond underwater and then came back at me on the surface.
I stepped back which calmed them a bit, and then I decided that since they knew I was there, everything else they did would be colored by my presence. So I headed back to the Lost Swamp Pond to see if I could track the other otter. At the dam I saw otter prints, indeed enough for two otters and one print was rather small.
But up at the Lost Swamp Pond the only ripples were made by a small group of geese. They swam off and I decided duty required my waiting at least 15 minutes to see if an otter appeared. I did not have long to wait before I saw ripples around the lodge in the middle of the pond, and two otters climbed out onto the lodge! They seemed so uncertain, always looking off into the distance, that I wondered if they were waiting for the appearance of a third otter. Evidently they were worried about the Second Pond otters continuing the chase, for no other otter
appeared. In ten minutes or so they began to settle down. The larger one resting a chin on a log and the smaller resting a chin on the the larger, another mother, I assume. I well knew that they were atop a lodge filled with sleeping beavers, and I began to hear humming from inside the lodge, one hum a bit insistent, but the noise seemed to give the otters no concern. Suspecting that these otters had just come into the ponds, and had already been chased out of on, I expected them to take a fairly long nap. And I reasoned that if the beavers were going to make something
of their presence they would do so sooner than later. So I left them in peace and went back along the south shore of the Second Swamp Pond. I trained my spyglass on the lodge where I left the otters and I saw that those two were still there. The coloring of these two groups is quite different. The mother at the Second Swamp Pond is rather black and the pup a dull, almost grayish brown. The otters in the Lost Swamp were both brown, almost reddish brown. I continued on down to the New Pond knoll where I think I saw some new scat, but not piping fresh. Then down at the
South Bay trail just up from the stream I saw several bug fresh, glistening scats.
So I suspect these had just been left by the newcomers. Given the difference in fur color there is a good chance that these otters are not related. So it will be curious to see if they merge into a group. Of course, otters have been so
shy this summer, I just hope one group decides to stay a while.
September 15 a warm sunny day and I headed for the ponds a little before 8, taking the same route that brought me such luck yesterday. A flock of small birds were in the willows across the street, flitting so fast that I couldn't see what they might be. The other day I came upon a buck, at least a six pointer, up along the TI Park trail, but no deer today. When I walked down to the Double Lodge Pond, I flushed four deer including a fawn who had not quite lost its spots. The leaks in the Double Lodge Pond dam appear to be patched, but I didn't notice any augmentation of the piles of beaver nibbled sticks. Nothing happening on the Big Pond, so I hurried on to the Lost Swamp Pond where I hoped to see otters. At the fringe of the woods I saw a tree recently cut by the beavers.
The wind was still shifting so I decided it didn't matter which way I approached the Lost Swamp Pond. I walked down and sat on shaded log that affords the best view of all the pond. I watched two gaggle of geese swim away from me. In a few minutes the gaggle further from me had a debate and the flies had it. They fly far, only up to the far southeast corner of the pond. Seeing no otters, I checked nearby latrines. I didn't get too close to the beaver bank lodge. I did hear humming inside it. By the time I got around to the north shore slope, a beaver was out and splashing me three or four times as it swam away from me going up pond. There was fresh otter scat on the slope, right on top of the old otter scat. The new scat was grayish,
quite different from the previous black scat. So I think the new otters were trying to trump the marks of the two otters that had been here before. I walked over the ridge down to the Second Swamp Pond. I didn't see any scat, but saw
that the pond was quite low
but before I went down to investigate that I walked up to the Lost Swamp Pond dam to check other otter latrines -- no fresh scats there. Then in the hazy glinting sunlight I saw a common merganser diving near the point of the peninsula. Then I saw what I am pretty sure was a beaver swimming up pond. It was swimming fast with a cock at the back of its body, but it wasn't swimming like an otter. And the beaver that had splashed me had seemed pretty exercised and swimming fast. The Second Swamp Pond was quiet and definitely low. So low that it was much easier crossing the dam.
After the heavy rain I had heard water rushing at this dam, but I assumed that it was water going over the dam, just like at the other dams. But as I headed out on the dam, I soon saw that water was draining through the dam. Before I got to the breach, I saw fresh otter scats on the grass. There were a few squirts of fresh scat next to the breach, which as at the hole the beavers had cut through their dam early in the winter to pool water below the dam.
Water was not leaking much, and I still heard water flowing. As I got to the central portion of the dam, I saw that water was leaking deep under the dam. There was also otter scats old and new all around.
Behind the dam I could see what appeared to be two holes into the mud silted behind the dam.
I've seen this before a few times and I think it is more likely caused by the recent flood than by otters digging so deep into the silt. Even if they didn't cause the dam to lose so much water, it was obvious that the otters were taking advantage of it. Then I also found scat at the spillway that fed the little pool flooding the grove of trees the beavers harvested last fall. Of course I kept looking around for otters but I didn't see any. I checked the East Trail Pond ridge for scats and there were none. Evidently the otters have lost interest in this pond. I pressed on for Thicket Pond and stumbled onto a maple cut across the East Trail. This tree is clearly in the East Trail Pond watershed
and it would be easier for beavers to take logs down to that pond, provided they repaired the dam and brought water back up the valley. Since this was the day to check for otters, I didn't tarry around Thicket Pond, but I did find two
small maples cut on the southeast edge of the pond, an area they had been neglecting of late. Audubon Pond had much more water in it, but I didn't see any otter signs, or fresh beaver signs for that matter. I checked the docking rock and there were no signs that the otters had been there. From this I can conclude that I best concentrate my otter watching on the Lost Swamp Pond, Second Swamp Pond and Big Pond. I checked the latrine on the New Pond knoll and saw nothing new there, but going down the trail to the bridge over the creek I saw some old dry scat, which was
interesting because I saw feathers in it.
This is the second scat I've seen with feathers, the other was up at the Lost Swamp Pond. I also saw a fresh scat, laced as far as I could see with fish scales. My guess is that the otter pawed up the old scat before making its claim. Now what kind of feather is it: more likely, I think, from small birds nesting in the marsh than from ducks, but I have no expertise at all. Once before I saw bird bones in a scat, and thought that might be a duck's bones given the size. But these feathers seem small.
At the land I saw that the beavers had left a pretty big sapling in the valley pool, now their canal. And to my amazement that I had terraced wee ponds below the big pool they had made next to the Teepee Pond back in the spring. So there is the main pond, then the pool they made in the spring, another smaller pool with a competent dam
and then a small pool, leading to where they had harvested the prickly ash, formed by a little dredging and a hint of dam which didn't hold back all the water.
Up at the first pond there was no sign of any cache building. Then I walked down to the Third Pond to
photograph some asters
and I continued on down to the Deep Pond. At the east end of the dam at the end of a short trail in the grass coming out of the pond, I saw a freshly dug hole.
Did a muskrat tried of all the soggy and perhaps recently flooded burrows in the dam dig this hole? I crossed the dam which wasn't easy and saw a muddy area with a bit of trimmed vegetation floating in the water, likely done by a
muskrat.
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I also noticed how flimsy my dam repair had been. The board was pushed well back and the water flowing merrily out.
Finally walking up the road I checked the old apple tree and saw two queer looking apples splitting at the seems.
A millipede took advantage of one cave.
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