September 9 I didn’t sit at the beaver pond on our land yesterday evening so when I headed down to the Boundary Pond in the late afternoon I went directly to the maple they recently cut up on the west ridge expecting to see its crown considerably trimmed, but once again there was no evidence that a beaver touched it. But I saw that the arrangement of stripped sticks behind the lodge was different.
I decided to continue sitting until 5 pm which is when beavers activity started inside and outside the lodge until a few days ago. Today, there was no beaver activity. I did see a large muskrat a bit up pond munching frogbit or duckweed or both.
It was at it for several minutes, moving farther out in the pond. Then I heard a noise on the west slope above where it was, sounded like a branch falling. The muskrat thought it was more serious than that and scrambled over the frogbit and disappeared into the pond. Beavers have been nibbling sticks on the west side of the lodge too, not just behind it so I took a photo of that so I could better judge the activity there.
I walked up pond along the shore looking for fresh work. I saw that where the beavers had been busy munching frogbit they are now stripping little sticks.
At a certain point, the frogbit might become unpalatable. I also took a photo of the Last Pool channel to see if the beavers started dredging that again. It looked like they began to girdle a small tree along side it.
I didn’t go out to see the beavers after dinner. It is starting to get dark too early for good beaver watching especially if the beavers stop coming out early.
September 10 In the late afternoon I took a walk around the Last Pool and Boundary Pond. After I saw that a beaver cut a maple on the ridge west of the lodge, I thought all the beavers’ work would be concentrated there. But I was wrong. Meanwhile I had lost track of what else they might be doing. I was also expecting the big poplar at the end of the Last Pool to be blown over and had contented myself with just checking to see, from afar, whether it was still standing. Today I took a close look at the cut, and I think a beaver cut some more.
I could even see cracks in the wood around the cut on the side where the beaver cut more deeply into the trunk.
Then a few feet away I saw where a beaver cut and removed a tree in front of the elm they had girdled a while ago.
I didn’t notice any more new work along the east shore. I did see many mushrooms that have popped up, continuing this best of years for mushrooms.
I climbed up the ridge, which I have neglected to do for a number of days. Why would a beaver go up there with a downed maple even more convenient? No beaver had revisited the poplar that they had been segmenting, but higher up the ridge, I was surprised to see that a beaver cut another red oak.
Then I headed down the ridge toward the gully where they had cut one poplar and started in on another. On the way I saw that a beaver had cut down another small red oak there.
Then as I headed down into the gully, I saw that they had been girdling a large red oak.
There didn’t appear to be any new work in the gully but when I went back over the top of the ridge and started heading down to the pond, I saw that beavers had been girdling another large red oak there and they had cut around a fat but not tall poplar, perhaps cutting enough so that a strong wind might blow it down.
So instead of checking that maple on the west ridge, I should have been checking this. Looking from below, the fall of that poplar seemed even more likely.
I went down the steep ridge, switching back and forth when it got too steep for me. I would love to see a beaver use this trail. I sat on a rock until 5 pm. For much of the summer one of the beavers often came out at 5. Instead of walking on the dam, I went well down pond to get a photo of the blaze of yellow in the meadow around the remnants of Wildcat Pond. The bur-marigolds are blooming.
Then I sat in my chair overlooking the lodge for 20 minutes and once thought I heard a kit whine, but if it did it must have been whining in its sleep because kits when they are awake keep whining. I could see that there was a new arrangement of stripped logs behind the lodge, evidence that beavers are still here.
But I missed not seeing them out in the pond. I went back along the west shore of the pond and didn’t see any new work. They are doing their thing on the east side of the pond.
September 11 I haven’t been getting enough walking exercise so when I got some time on the island I headed for the South Bay trail, via Antler Trail, to get a photo of the beaver gnaws on a big willow along the north shore of the bay that we saw a few days ago during our kayak trip. And, as usual, I checked the otter latrines. I didn’t see any scats anywhere, which was disappointing. My theory is that otters at Picton Island include the headland of Wellesley Island and South Bay in their range. The work on the willow wasimpressive. I got a photo of where they had cut a branch just above water level
And of their work on the trunk.
Neither my head nor the sun was at the best angle to show the depth of their cutting into the willow. The photo below is poorly lit but does give some idea of the depth of the gouging.
I also checked the beaver activity at Audubon Pond. As I came up to the pond an osprey flew off its perch in one of the trees around the pond. It was quite noisy and flew to a nest on a power pole between the pond and South Bay. I heard strange noises there like I was overhearing osprey talking amongst themselves rather than getting their usual commentary as they soar on high. The beavers’ path going over the embankment still looks well used.
And where the path comes up from Audubon Pond, the water is muddy, which could be from beavers denning there but just as likely muskrat activity could account for the muddy water.
The little pond below the embankment has less water and the center of it looks to be dry land, but the channels in it are still muddy.
I saw that the beavers had cut and girdled some trees below the embankment to the west of the little pond. It was easy walking down there because someone had gone down in a four wheeler to cut an oak tree, which seemed curious. Most of the work I saw from the top of the embankment looked rather old up close but going down the valley, I saw a tree that may have been cut in the last few weeks.
Hard to tell. When I come back next time I should be able to tell if the beavers are still active. While the work below the pond doesn’t look that fresh, the trail to it does.
But other animals might be using it. I frequently see deer around here. I didn’t walk around Audubon Pond proper but went back to South Bay to check the otter latrines and there was nothing new. As I was walking back down the South Bay trail, I saw some nice yellow flowers.
When we got back to our land I went down to check the beaver ponds after 6pm, hoping I might disturb a beaver along the way. For the last few days, as I sat patiently in the chair above the lodge, sometimes as late as 7pm, there were no beavers in the pond nor making noises in the lodge. But not expecting to see beavers I made my usual inspection tour without trying conceal myself. Despite cracks in the wood behind where the beavers are making their cut, the big poplar above the Last Pool still has not fallen. I think a beaver has been in the area because there was more gnawing on a nearby elm.
As I walked down the east shore of the Last Pool, I saw the rounded back of an animal diving and I was pretty sure it was a beaver as I could see its wake as it swam down the channel heading to Boundary Pond. I eventually got a photo of it, after it twice surfaced trying to get a look at me.
I think this was one of the yearlings, and I think when it dove again it swam all the way back to the lodge. I stood still for a good while to see if I might see or hear more beavers, but a cackling kingfisher neutralized my sense of hearing. So I tried to get a photo of the kingfisher which, as usual, only inspired a cackling flight and as far I could tell, the kingfisher almost crashed into a wood duck, at least an immature wood duck came straight down splashing into the pond. I could say its eyes looked like it just got the shock of its life, but wood duck eyes always look like that. I finally got a photo of a curly birch the beavers have been girdling along the east shore.
I went up the beaver trail climbing the ridge to east of the pond high enough to see that the poplar they’ve been cutting there hasn’t fallen over. I also got a photo of the steepest part of their trail up which I cannot climb unless I get down on all fours.
I walked several yards below the dam and then crossed the valley, not wanting to overly disturb the beavers in their lodge. I could hear a kit humming from inside. I noticed that the small ash tree just behind the dam which they had started cutting a week ago has now been cut down.
I climbed the ridge and sat briefly in my chair, but no beaver came out. I checked the maple they cut up on the ridge and saw no work on that. I headed back along the ridge as it was getting too dark to look for beavers or their work. Then as I headed down Grouse Alley, I saw a freshly cut elm sapling.
So the beavers are back in gear, not sure why the hiatus in their early activity.
September 13 a slow moving cold front is treating us to a dazzling display of late summer clouds. Since clouds aren’t quite on the terrain I cover, as I sat by the Deep Pond dam after lunch, I tried to compose a photo with the lush vegetation there and the clouds in the distance.
And certainly a shot of the venerable lonesome pine on the ridge about the pond, framed by the dramatic clouds, is in order.
I also took a more mundane photo of the dam which demonstrates how slack the herbivores have been around this pond this year.
I also had time to see if the south winds that blew as the front approached toppled the poplar at the upper end of the Last Pool. No. But I think the tree is now beginning to lean.
A strong north wind should blow it over, I think. I don’t think any beavers have gnawed on the cut around that tree, but I think they have been in the area. I noticed a new stump
And I think a beaver took a few more bites out of the elm nearby that they’ve girdled, and are beginning to cut.
September 14 we are spending out nights in our house in the island now and there we had some strong wind gusts from the north as the cold front continued its slow progress. So when we got to our land, my first stop was the poplar at the end of the Last Pool. At first look I thought it withstood the winds, then I saw that its crown fell so neatly on top of the big poplar that they cut last summer that it was easy not to notice it at first.
Of course I walked down the trunk first to celebrate the cut
And then the long trunk.
The beavers may not have noticed this yet because none of the branches in the crown have been cut. As crowns go, this one seems to offer more smaller branches in relation to the number of long branches stemming out of the trunk.
I continued down the east shore, content not to see any new work there, and then I headed up the ridge to see if the poplar there had been blown over. No.
The beavers need an east wind to aid them here. But this tree sits a bit below the eastern height of the ridge and it doesn’t have much crown to catch the wind. It might just be stocky enough to keep standing. Scrambling down the steep ridge, I saw the stump of a tree probably cut last year.
Last year, I didn’t notice that the beavers came up here. Near this relic I saw a shrub that I haven’t noticed around here before.
So I took some photos to aid in identifying it. The dark green of the leave and the red of the berries were quite beautiful as well as the oblong shape of both leaves and berries.
As I crossed along the dam I noticed that several more jewel weed plants had been nipped.
And I saw one plant floating in the water framed by some still dramatic clouds.
After all these years of watching beavers, I have never seen such an affinity for jewel weed. The beavers moved the ash trunk that they cut the other day. In the photo below you can just see it floating beside the lodge where the beavers stripped it.
The squall that brought the north wind also dumped an inch or so of rain and that showed in the pond. These beavers seem well set for the fall with plenty of water and plenty to eat, and, alas, one less mouth to feed.
Back at the island I headed out for a late afternoon hike hoping to sit long enough at the Lost Swamp Pond to see a beaver there and then on the way home to see a beaver in the Big Pond. I headed out on Antler Trail and saw a small doe there and saw that she now has winter colors, changing this year before any of the leaves.
As I expected the coyotes bones were not as striking as before since all the rain we’ve had flattened the hide they were nestled on.
When I got up to the south end of the Big Pond dam I saw a trail in the grass of something that had gotten up out of the water, but I didn’t see fresh scats in the usual latrine. Then as I assumed my seat on the dead tree trunk perch by the pond and saw a large pile of scat below, flanked by a smaller dollop of scat.
I took a close-up photo to make sure that it wasn’t another spread of skunk or raccoon poop.
I could see fish scales and a creamy mucous along with the black goo which I have long associated with otter scats.
I checked the other latrine in this area which is a yard or two below the dam, and it looked like an animal might have recently been there. I looked for scat and managed to see some under a plant, not out in the open as usual on top of some scraped up grass.
I rarely see otter scats tucked away like this but I could visualize how an otter facing the pond might let fly so that its scat landed here. I broke the scat apart and took a close up just to make sure it was otter scat.
Back in the spring the otters had other latrines along this pond, but now every part of the shore but this small area looks to be choked with vegetation.
Of course I kept scanning the pond for otters and all I saw was a flock of wood ducks, about 8, coming out of the marsh forming the south shore of the pond. Walking through the meadow north of the pond, I checked to see if the closed gentian I saw here last time quite exposed almost on a path is still here. It is and another closed gentian is blooming nearby.
As I headed to the Lost Swamp Pond, I realized that once again some of my theories were on the line. Did the otter or otters who scatted at the Big Pond take my so-called otter map route from South Bay up along the ridge to the rock above the mossy cove latrine along the southwest shore of the Lost Swamp Pond? I did not see any fresh otter scats above the rock or on the rock. Perhaps there was a bit of old scat on the rock. Down in the mossy cove latrine close to the water, there was a spread of poop that looked too flat and scaleless to be from otters.
That said, in the old days I would have readily identified this as otter scat, but my experience with skunk poop here this summer has taught me to be more skeptical. Well, I actually didn’t come out here today to rehash the otter scat/skunk poop debate. I came to see beavers. So I sat down to look out at the pond. 5pm is early for seeing beavers but during the summer, on those few occasions I got out here, I saw a beaver in the pond even earlier in the afternoon. But none today. Plus there were no ospreys about, no ducks. Only a small flock of geese that looked like a family grouping in the northeast end of the pond. So I walked around the west end of the pond to check the latrines by the dam for fresh otter scats. On the way I went up on the ridge north of the pond and looked down at the Second Swamp Pond
And the Upper Second Swamp Pond
Both ponds looked like they were disappearing as bur-marigold bloomed all around. Yes, over the years I have noticed otters in small, shallow ponds, and a kingfisher flew over the upper pond, but no otters were there today. There were scats in the latrine just below the Lost Swamp Pond dam, and they were rather far from the pond.
They were also relatively old, perhaps as much as a week old.
I think I was seeing scales in it, so I am pretty sure otters had been here.
Over the years I have often had the pleasure of finding the scats of otters when they moved back into these beaver ponds. Usually it was easy to piece together a story as I saw fresh scats beside neighboring ponds. Seeing a week old scat and then a day old scat suggests a slower moving and more methodical otter, or two different otters making separate visits. My otter story lines are getting blurred. I looked for signs of fresh beaver activity but all the trails up out of the pond looked about the same with the same nibbled sticks I saw the last time I was here. The only possible sign that beavers had been around, that I had not noticed before, is that the vegetation along a good portion of the dam looked like it had been trimmed.
There were not many muskrat poops on the logs where they usually are suggesting that beavers did the trimming. I’ve never seen geese eating grass along a dam. They usually prefer wider slopes. I went back to the south shore of the pond where I could get the best view of the whole pond. I concentrated on the area around the lodge in the southeast end of the pond which had showed signs of beaver activity: a cache on the left side and all the vegetation trimmed on top of the lodge (I have frequently seen geese on this lodge.)
But during the hour I waited, I didn’t see any beaver swim out from the lodge. I saw two black ducks well behind it. No muskrats appeared. The only excitement was that the geese suddenly took a vote, flew up, flew in front of me and then over the pond heading east. Then they curled around north of the pond and flew west to Eel Bay. I had also not seen any herons, then just before I left, a heron flew into the northeast section of the pond. Another heron, that I had not noticed, flew out of the cattails along the shore and dared the other heron to land. It didn’t and flew off. I went back via the Big Pond and I didn’t see any beavers or muskrats there. Clouds had been moving in, but when I got to the south end of the Big Pond dam the sun shone again and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the pond bathed in the brilliant golden light.
September 15 I headed off to South Bay in the kayak to see if any larger bryozoa developed from the small globs that we saw on some of the milfoil. And, since I saw fresh otter scats at the pond end of the otter route, I wantd to see if there were any on the bay end of the route. For the first time in a few months, no ospreys greeted my as I paddled down the north cove. The river level is going down again but there was just enough water so that I could paddle to the willow latrine though I couldn’t quite sidle up to place I usually pull myself out of the kayak. From the kayak, I didn’t see any signs of otters up on the shore. But once up, I saw that the latrine they used several weeks ago was still matted down, and there were two mounds of dead grass scraped up and judging by some of the wet plants nearby some animal had been here recently. Finally I saw some fresh scat, and had to feel pretty good about my theory that scats in the beaver ponds, at this time of year, predict scats in this willow latrine, and vice versa. Of course, otters could have just toured South Bay, so as I looked for bryozoa, I checked the other otter latrines. I saw no more scats, and I didn’t see any bryozoa. I did see several small painted turtles on logs -- cold nights are getting them out again. As I paddled up the north shore of the bay, I saw a heron, over knee deep in water, intently staring down at the mix of milfoil and river grass. I had my small binoculars so when I stopped I could study the heron’s stare, but its yellow eyes didn’t blink or flinch. The its neck plunged into the water and it flapped up. I didn’t see any fish impaled on its beak but its beak nodded up as it flew like it was downing a shiner. Then it croaked for all it was worth, all the way across the bay as if it was trying to redeem itself from the indignity of my having been so close to it. Of course, I kept looking for fresh beaver work, and well up the north shore, past the docking rock I saw where a beaver had cut a stripped some willow branches sporting out of the trunk of a willow beavers cut and almost killed a few years ago. Then I finally heard an osprey screeching in or around the nest on the power pole just below Audubon Pond. I could see but not hear it. I paddled across the Narrows and checked the lodge tucked along the Murray Island shore. No signs of beaver activity yet. I didn’t see any geese nor ducks. There were plenty of fishlings, especially in South Bay.
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