August 31 Although weary after a long car ride home, I waddled down to the Deep Pond around 6pm when the beaver has often been out of late. I scanned the pond, and didn’t see the beaver. Then I saw it slumped over on the bank across from me just up from the east end of the dam.
I was sure that I had another dead beaver to deal with, that the poor thing dragged itself out of the pond only to die. It didn’t move and I trained the camcorder on it hoping to see signs of life. In 15 seconds it twitched and then began grooming its belly.
The angle I had allowed me to see the beaver’s full extent of rolling flab. I began feeling very fat myself. Then the beaver shifted and began nipping the fur on its left side.
Next it began to work its upper paws vigorously in the water in front of it and I assume it was massaging the base of its tail. Its left rear foot kept jerking up and then came up high and the beaver scratched its nose and under its chin. It kept at that longer than humans usually scratch their chin, and it worked much more methodically than we do.
Next it worked on its mid-section again and then its right back foot cocked up and the beaver scratched the back of its head which struck me as the acme of pleasure.
Then after some brief nips at the fur on its left side again, it plunged into the water. This whole episode of grooming took several minutes and I had to stop recording and delete some old clips to free up space. So I didn’t get any images of it plunging back into the water.
Once in the pond it shook its head violently enough to splash the water. While it was grooming I was marveling at how overweight it looked. Evidently the beaver was marveling at how empty its stomach was because it immediately began eating a lily pad.
Then it swam back to the shore, came a bit out of the water and ate some more vegetation I couldn’t quite see.
Then it swam around in a narrow radius and wound up eating another lily pad while facing me. Then it began swimming slowly up pond and found something with a relatively long stalk to eat, not sure what.
It continued up to the deepest part of the pond and I hoped it would continue on to the high bank where I saw something leafy floating in the water.
This is the first evidence of this beaver cutting a sapling and bringing it to the pond. I couldn’t quite tell what it was. Anyway, the beaver didn’t swim over to it, and instead dove a few times under water
and then surfaced and swam quickly back down pond. It went straight to the dam, and then swam along it shielded by the tall grasses until it could get a good look at me. I stood up to get a better video of it which didn’t alarm it in the least.
Then it swam slowly back along the pond,
and I went back to dinner. There is growing evidence of vegetation dying back. Grass stalks begin to sere and the boneset blossoms are turning gray.
Time for mammals to fatten up.
September 1 I went up to the Teepee Pond to pick berries and disturbed a kingfisher that perched on top of a dead tree between its cackling flights across the pond.
The meadow and honeysuckles engulfing the berries have not retreated a bit so while picking I felt what, on this hot morning, felt like the full sweat of summer. Compared to the meadow, getting back to work cutting up ironwoods felled by the beavers felt like a walk in the park since the vegetation there got a late start as the beaver pond slowly drained away. The upper pool of the Last Pool is all grasses now, most up to knee level.
I didn’t wade into it because I knew the ground below was soggy and wet. The flat up pond of the lodge, carpeted with sticks and logs left over from the beavers’ meals, has almost no vegetation peeking through the litter.
But in a nearby channel that the beavers kept relatively free of litter, what looks like water plantains are growing.
The beavers built their lodge partially on top of some of the old mossy mounds born of rotting tree trunks that snake through the area. Now that the tall poplars that shaded the area are dead, the flood of sunlight helped woody stalks flourish.
If these saplings develop, I still don’t expect much shade here for a couple years. Some of the bigger saplings have berries. I thought they were prickly ash, but didn’t feel any stickers on the bark. Before the beavers began foraging there there were clumps of winterberry. This may be that returning.
There is still a good bit of shade over the channel down the middle of the pond and few things are growing in the flats revealed as the pond water drained away.
However, I did see a low plant with a yellow flower with 5 petals. Bur-marigold and various sunflowers similar to it have more than five petals. Since the leaves of this plant looked like the bur-marigold, it struck me that this small plant was a less vigorous variety growing in the shade.
When I got down to the sun drenches flats around Boundary Pond, I saw the large, 8 petal flowers.
These blooms haven't taken over yet. Standing at the channel of the old pond where there is still some water and looking back to where I was cutting up ironwoods the beavers cut down along the old shore of the pond, there were only a few bur-marigolds nodding at me above the pervasive cut-grass.
There is less cut-grass near the channel and it is there where I expect to find a cotillion of yellow flowers dancing around the duckweed.
There is a rain, perhaps a good bit of it, heading our way and I expect that the pond fed by the channel is about at its lowest point until next summer, and the plants fringing that area now haven’t quite reached their stride.
I couldn’t resist a photo of the cut-grass and bur-marigold beginning to obscure the tree stumps left by the beavers.
The smaller, dark stemmed, bur-marigold like plant still refuses to bloom. I saw a bonsai example of it growing in the hollowed out stump of a beaver-cut tree.
I think I am going to have to come to grips with the fact that these plants have bloomed, and what look like yellow buds to me are the full blown flowers. During a pause during my sawing, I noticed a strange looking black fly on my glove. It was entranced by the sweat and stayed rooted to the glove as I walked over with it to where I had hung my camera bag.
A progressive bee-fly, a little worse from wear?
September 2 yesterday during my morning walk down the road, I ducked over to the Deep Pond dam and flushed a blue heron. Today, I did the same and had my camcorder ready and got a video of a heron flying off. At the end of my walk, down where the road meets White Swamp, I saw a clump of flattened grass about 10 yards out in the water with sticks stripped by a beaver on it.
This deserved another photo from a different angle.
This is the first beaver activity I’ve seen there in years, and there is a nice stand of small willow trees here, the same kind that line our Third Pond which a beaver enjoyed so much this spring. This may be a response to a relative lack of trapping last winter which in turn was probably a response to a lack of beavers arising from heavy trapping 5 years ago. I’ll try to walk the nearby shore of the swamp before hunting season starts a month from now. Unfortunately, a duck hunter may notice the beaver signs and turn trapper when duck season ends in December. I soon got to work sawing logs and took my sawhorse down near the Boundary Pond lodge. Three ironwoods that the beavers cut are lying out in the pond
I suppose cutting up the trunks and taking away the logs will mar the beauty of the remnant of the pond that once flooded over the trunks. I took a close-up to make a record of the specially decadent green look of the place now with duckweed everywhere and frog bit draped over what remains of the beavers’ cache pile.
However, the beavers never stripped the bark off the ironwood trunks and of the three they felled. they only cut the branches off one. The trunk of an ash or elm in the pond nearby shows what a beaver can do. The branches were all cut off and the bark stripped off the trunk for food and bedding used inside the nearby lodge.
As I sawed away the only activity was my dripping sweat and the occasional frog jumping into the green pond. A week ago when I looked up pond from this point, the main channel of the pond was clear of duckweed reminding me of how beavers used to keep the channel clear by their constant swimming up and down the channel and their now and then eating some of the duckweed. Now the channel too is choked with green.
Then looking down from where I took the photo above, I focused on a beautiful clump of smartweed and the prints of a deer who walked past without munching it. I’m not the only thing fascinated by this emerging vegetation. When the mosquitoes finally quit, I will sit here in the evening, as I did when the beavers were here, and see what the deer are eating. I often saw them gob up the thick mats of frog bit.
As I walked up pond I took a photo of dead stumps in the pond. Now it is hard to be sure what the beavers cut but certainly the higher stumps were cut in the winter as beavers stood on the ice and snow and the lower stumps were probably cut in the fall when the beavers were building up their cache pile.
As usual I checked the vigorous plant with the little yellow flowers that refuse to bloom out like all the other yellow flowers.
As I was sawing one ironwood log, I noticed a spider that reminded me of photos of the rabid wolf spider, which is harmless to humans. But when I got back to the books, I saw the spider lacked stripes and I’ll have to get a better guide to spiders to see if it is a variety or another species.
After lunch I walked around the Deep Pond to get a better feel of what the beaver has been doing there. It looked like more vegetation was cleared from the northeast section of the pond, which is relatively deep.
The beaver still spares the water lilies and they and their pads still look fresh although they’ve been blooming for over a month.
Back on the 31st, I saw a leafy branch floating in the water below the high slope forming the east shore of the pond. I was expecting it to be a maple sapling that the beaver cut in the fringe of the woods, but what remained of it looked like part of a shrub probably from the pond shore. Since I didn’t see any berries, I don’t think it is honeysuckle.
Factoring in that I’ve seen raccoons and deer go to and from the pond and the woods, I looked for a trail the beaver might have made and saw none. I did see a little nook of wet flattened grass along that shore where the beaver probably groomed itself.
There is also a bit of bur-marigold along the feeble inlet creek and it is dwarfed by much taller plants.
The beavers seems to have done some foraging between the inlet and its lodge, between the tall fan grass and the shore.
I saw one uprooted plant.
And closer to the lodge I saw the remains of shredded roots.
The lodge looked as it always has, no signs of major beaver activity, and the beaver didn’t torpedo out in response to my being so close, another sign that it has grown accustomed to me and my ways.
We went back to the island and before dinner, I paddled over to South Bay. We swim in the river every day but usually don’t hang around long enough to paddle about. There was a bit of a wind and some waves that rather rolled where the boats are prone to go. While there seem to be fewer boats on the river, many of the boats are rather big driven by men in a hurry to show off their wealth. But I found some waves I could even ride a bit into South Bay. Geese are now splitting the roosting spots on the shoal with gulls and a few Caspian terns. The latter worked the bay diving for fish. The few cormorants seemed evenly spread out. All these observations are not unimportant since the invasive gobies moved into the area helping the fish fatten up and I assume the flying piscivores as well. I hope somebody is studying this rigorously but probably not since as an invasive gobies are branded as enemies and no scientist would probably want to risk his or her reputation by doing a study that might highlight their benefits. All the fishermen I talk to are quite happy with the gobies fattening up the game fish. I digress because there isn’t too much to report on in South Bay. Even though the water level has dropped almost 3 feet since spring, there were no signs of otters using their old latrines once again high and dry. I didn’t see any signs of beaver activity either, nor did I get any vibes that muskrats are about, though they must be. I flushed two herons who didn’t even squawk about it, and saw two ospreys perched in trees, one overlooking each cove of the bay. A few turtles were stretched up on logs, one pair quite artfully. I didn’t seen any bryozoa though the water was a bit riley too easily see them. The arrowhead has all grown and instead of white flowers there are many green balls. I didn’t see as much purple loosestrife as usual, complementing the usual yellow flowers of the season. Didn’t see much but breaking water again with a paddle was quite pleasurable.
September 3 a rather hot and humid day which I redeemed with some brief observations on my morning walk before I justified my existence by sweating through a spate of hauling, sawing and splitting. A beaver in White Swamp was active enough to leave a bit of muddy water between the clumps of vegetation.
And I saw where the beaver cut some small willows along the shore.
And when I was picking berries, again about beyond the south shore of Teepee Pond, I saw a painted turtle sunning over on a log in front of the north shore,
Looking much like a small flying saucer.
September 4 I had a few extra hours on the island again, and this time I took a hike to check the otter latrines along South Bay, and then see what the beavers are up to at Audubon Pond and the East Trail Pond. I didn’t see any otter signs along the South Bay trail but I did see many fading mushrooms, small
And big.
I also the saw the yellow sunflowers I see along this trail every year and seldom anywhere else. They seem too gentle to keep up with the usual swarms of yellow flowers.
Near the old dock at the end of the north cove of the bay, I saw the larger variety of arrowheads, gone to seed,
And a little farther out the smaller narrow leaved arrowheads which I seem to be noticing more this year.
I was disappointed not to see any otter signs along the bay, but fishing must be better elsewhere. I never saw much evidence of the otters getting crayfish this year, and they still must appreciate them despite the influx of gobies. Up at Audubon Pond, I walked along the high embankment first and saw that the grass on the two trails going up and over it still look worn down.
The little pond below the embankment is still muddy, but muskrats could manage that, and I saw a muskrat the last time I was here. I didn’t see any fresh beaver work, but it looked like there might be a dam farther down the creek toward South Bay.
I’ll check on that later. The Audubon Pond drain has less mud around it, and I imagine the great floods a few weeks ago washed a good bit of it away.
The southwest corner of the pond is muddy and since it is relatively deep there, I think muskrats or beavers must be foraging there.
However, I didn’t see any signs of beaver activity along the west shore and the woods beyond, where the beavers had been cutting trees earlier in the summer. The bank lodge there looked unused too.
And usually when I stand beside it, the beavers come out if they are inside it. None did today. However there was a large pile of crayfish laced scat close to the lodge surrounded by a circle of dead grass.
This looked like the leavings of an otter but there were no other scats around so it is quite possible that a raccoon had a lucky day pawing up crawfish here. I reserved judgment until I got over to the point on the north shore between the park bench and the lodge in the pond, a favorite otter latrine. I saw no scats there. Nor did I see any beaver work there or on or around the lodge.
There was muddy water outside the muskrat burrows. There is plenty of pond vegetation to sate the two beavers usually here so I assume they are still here. As I continued along the north shore, I flushed my second green heron. The one I flushed from the west shore went over and perched on the cage over the drain, and this one flew off in the same direction. Where the beavers had trails up into the asters they were cutting in the spring and last year was now a field of unparted asters, quite beautiful.
In the woods, off the southeast corner of the pond, I saw some beaver gnawing and cutting that I don’t think was as extensive last time I was here.
But it didn’t look like fresh work. One osprey was still hanging around the nest on the power pole between Audubon Pond and South Bay. I went back along the South Bay trail to the East Trail and as I walked along the trail high on the ridge north of the East Trail Pond, I was stopped in my tracks by the stump of a small oak tree, cut by beavers, but when?
I tried to recall it, but then looked over and saw gnawing on larger oaks,
and reconciled myself to the beavers coming high up on this ridge to find trees to cut. I also saw two small white oaks they had taken away.
And I think they have renewed their gnawing on large oaks they first addressed back in the winter.
I continued down the trail to where I could over look along the dam, and I was surprised not to see any muddy water there.
Then I went back along the ridge so I could get a good look at the lodge. There was no muddy water surrounding that,
but the lodge looked like it had been expanded. Then after going a little farther up the ridge, I got a view of the south shore of the pond and there I saw muddy water.
So I was satisfied that the beavers are still here. Soon I’ll come out in the evening and look for them. Like all active beaver ponds, this one provided a preview of the fall colors, as the leaves of one red maple are changing.
I continued to see mushrooms, and then stumbled on a moss carpet in the woods sporting a few dozen black trumpets.
I had to pick some for Leslie and Ottoleo who enjoy eating them.
September 6 yesterday we moved back to the island, which means we will sleep there a lot more which means I will be there more. Today I hiked out to the beaver ponds. We had a heavy rain very early yesterday morning and a little more last night so the mosses and lichens looked good up on the plateau. I expected to see everything looking refreshingly damp, even the depleted beaver ponds. As I walked down to the berry bushes above the little creek curling down to the pond below the Big Pond, I flushed a handsome turkey, bluish gray with red wattle, or what ever you call them, hanging down. There were some delicious black raspberries there, probably not what the turkey was eating. As I approached the Big Pond, along my usual trail, I was stopped cold by an extraordinary dragonfly that looked indeed like a dragon with what looked like finely wrought black armor on its back.
I took a close up without bothering it, at an angle so the armor blocked out its tail, which really the made the dragonfly, called a saddleback, look unique.
The Big Pond looked about the same size as a month ago but the vegetation fringing it was much thicker. Obviously no otters had worked their way through the grasses and bur-marigolds to visit their old latrines.
However judging from the prints where there is still a bit of exposed mud, a raccoon or two has been walking around the pond.
The recent rains flooded what had been a shoreline that raccoons could more easily negotiate.
My usual photo of the upper end of the pond, where the new grown meadow is really closing in, also serves as an “action” photo since that juvenile cormorant was up there sunning and fishing.
Note the lush bur-marigolds. The water was rushing out through two holes in the dam. No signs of any beavers, and judging from how clear the water is, muskrats have not been around either,
which is strange because it looks like the vegetation the muskrats ate earlier in the summer is growing back. I had been walking behind the exposed ground behind the dam, but that has too much vegetation, so I walked below the dam and picked my way through gaps in the grass probably made by deer. As I left the north end of the dam, I looked for closed gentians. I began seeing them this early last year, but saw none today. At first glance the Lost Swamp Pond looked in good shape, and I immediately heard a kingfisher cackling over it. As I approached a half dozen ducks, probably mallards, flew off. I went to the rock above the mossy cove latrine and saw no signs of otters there. Then it began to sink in how low the pond was though the grasses weren’t closing in the way they were around the Big Pond. I walked over to get a better view of the southeast end of the pond and saw quite an expanse beyond the grassy narrowing where the old dam was.
But save for the central channel most of that expanse is rather shallow, a few inches deep, which didn’t prevent the cormorant from swimming up there. I noticed a monarch butterfly drying out near me.
I saw two more as I walked around the pond. I didn’t see any signs of beaver activity along the far west shore of the pond shore, no muskrat poops either. I did try to take a photo of the kingfisher perched on top of a dead tree in the middle of the pond, but it flew off when I snapped the photo.
I cut back toward the Upper Second Swamp Pond so I could approach the Lost Swamp pond from below the dam. On my way I saw several large ungainly beige mushrooms.
Then I saw the angle to make one of those ungainly mushrooms look like a prima ballerina.
Only the kingfisher was lurking at the dam and it quickly flew away. The hole in the dam looked like it did the last time I was here.
However there is a huge bushiness of vegetation along and below the dam. No signs that beavers, otters, or even muskrats had been around here recently. I sat on a nearby rock and first counted my blessings: the hole the otters made in the winter is relatively small, and the late summer has been relatively wet. Otters could forage in this pond, den and maybe even spend the winter. Given the lush vegetation beavers could move into the pond too, or so I think. I had thought that beavers had adjusted to living in this large pond and surviving with almost no trees to cut and strip. The vegetation in the pond and the thickets of low woody shrubs were enough. However, the mated pair evidently failed to have kits for at least two years and I think of the pair left in the late spring. Will other beavers move in? Unfortunately there seems to be a dearth of beavers, especially if the East Trail Pond beavers didn’t have any kits, after having perhaps just one last year. The lack of muskrats is worrisome too because it suggests that both beavers and muskrats might be succumbing to an epidemic like tularemia. Hopefully, I am not seeing muskrats simply because I have not been sitting around long enough in the right spots. As for otters, I reminded myself that even in good years when the ponds on the island were full, I often didn’t see otters here until the fall. I headed home via the south shore of the Second Swamp Pond, and despite the rain, the pond looked meager.
Beavers haven’t tended the dam for several years. I didn’t check out the dam. I cut back through the woods to the Big Pond dam and took a photo of the meadow encroaching along the south shore of the pond that sports many bur-marigolds.
After lunch I thought the wind died down enough take the motor boat over to Picton Island and row the rocky shore where otters scat. I found a north wind in Eel Bay which moved me smartly down the northeast shore of the island provided I was lively with the oars and avoided the rocks. I didn’t try to dock anywhere. The water level is the river is low enough so that the flat shore with small rocks and logs where the otters usually scat was easily accessible for them, but I didn’t see any scats. However, when I rowed by the jumble of rocks in the water in front of a steep mossy cliff,
I saw some old scats up on a rock.
This is roughly where I saw some when I was out here several weeks ago, and certainly strikes me as a beautiful area for otters to hang out.
I speculated that I would see some scats as usual some 50 yards to the east where there are rocks out in the water setting a kind of boundary to this area.
And I did, though not many.
On my way down to that “boundary” I rowed along the area where there is a pool behind the rocks along the shore where I saw plenty of scats in the early summer, and where I thought the mother otter might be teaching her pups to swim. I didn’t see any scats on the rocks out in the water there, and the water was too rough to easily climb up and inspect the pool the otters had been using. I motored back around Quarry Point and looked hard at the old otter latrines there and from the boat didn’t see any promising signs. So I headed home. I’ll have to paddle out here one morning at dawn and look for otters.