Winter Provides Predators With Access to Beaver And Muskrat Lodges
Foxes’ and coyotes’ sense of smell is such that they rarely miss an opportunity to check out inhabited beaver or muskrat lodges in the winter, when frozen ponds and marshes allow them access to these tempting sources of food.
Beavers are well protected due to the amount of frozen mud in their lodges that provides an impenetrable barrier to visitors (inset photo: coyote investigates beaver vent in inhabited lodge). Muskrats are not as well protected (even though the walls of their lodges can be up to a foot thick) as their lodges are made of vegetation, primarily cattails and grasses, with very little, if any, mud. In addition to lodges, muskrats build feeding platforms, called “push-ups,” where their scent is strong enough to attract attention from hungry predators (main photo: fox tracks investigate a muskrat push-up).
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Red Fox Vixens Cleaning Out Dens
You may have heard or seen Red Foxes barking in the past few weeks – a sign that their mating season has begun. The skunk-like odor of fox urine at this time of year (particularly the males’) indicates where they have marked their territory. Most of the year Red Foxes are solitary animals, but in January and February it’s common to find the tracks of a pair travelling together.
Vixens (female Red Foxes) are already scouting out this year’s den site. They often clean out several dens on their territory, one of which they choose for their litter. The typical fox den is on a hillside in sandy or soft soil, often in a forest but close to an open area. They may dig their den, or modify the burrow of another animal. Usually there is a source of water within 300 feet or so of the den. There are several entrances, the largest being about ten inches in diameter. The same den may be used for many years, and eventually taken over by a daughter upon her mother’s death.
Finding a fox den is easiest now, when the excavated dirt is obvious on the snow, and tracks leading to and from it are visible. In roughly two months there may be anywhere from one to ten (usually four or five) kits being raised inside the den.
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The Architecture of a Bald-faced Hornet Nest
The exterior of a Bald-faced Hornet nest consists of an outer envelope of paper that is made up of a myriad of horizonal stripes of chewed up wood fibers that have been mixed with hornet saliva. Each stripe represents a single hornet’s contribution. The different colors represent different sources of wood. This outer envelope is only one of several (up to 12 or more) that serve to insulate the innermost, active part of the nest.
Inside these outer sheets are three or four horizontal tiers of hexagonal cells in which eggs are laid and brood are raised. Access from one level to another is at the periphery of the tiers, just inside the shell. The queen begins the nest, building a few cells and raising female workers that then take over the cell-building while the queen continues to lay eggs. As the number of hornets increases, so does the number of cells they build, and as a result the tiers become wider and wider. When space runs out, the hornets remove one or more of the innermost layers of insulating paper that form the envelope, while constructing new sheets on the outside. The nest continues to grow in this fashion until the queen’s egg-laying slows down at the end of the season.
The construction of these tiers of cells takes place upside down in total darkness, which is, in itself, quite a feat. When they are constructing a cell, the hornets keep one antenna inside the cell and the other on the outside. By monitoring the distance between the two antennae tips they can judge thickness of the wall. They do a similar thing with their mandibles, with one on each side of the wall, in order to straighten the cell walls and squeeze the pulp flat to remove water.
If the cells were built sideways or upwards they would require constant attention from the hornets until they dried in order to prevent them from sagging. Given that the cells are downward-facing, one might wonder why the hornet larvae don’t fall out. Water has a great affinity for uncoated paper (think of paper towels sucking up water against the pull of gravity). Because the larvae are damp, they actually stick to the paper cell walls. When they are ready to pupate, they must separate from the walls. They do this by attaching themselves to the cell with silk and then spin a silk cocoon.
In order to fully appreciate the intricate architecture of a Bald-faced Hornet nest, you must dissect one (they are only used for one season). Just be sure to wait until there have been a number of hard frosts, in order to assure that there are no residents. (Photo: Bald-faced Hornet nest – (left) envelope consisting of 12 layers & (right) cluster of cells it surrounded; inset: dissected inner section showing four tiers of cells)
A Beaver’s Winter Quarters
What exactly is it like inside an active beaver lodge in winter? It’s dark, damp and around 32°F. The living chamber inside usually has a ceiling no more than two feet high with a diameter of 4 to 6 feet, depending on the number of individuals in the family. (A typical beaver family is composed of an adult male and female, 2 to 3 yearlings, and 2- 4 kits that were born in the spring.) Fresh air enters and carbon dioxide leaves through a central vent (where mud is not applied) and through small holes that remain under logs on the side of the lodge. When there isn’t much snow and the outside air falls well below zero, the temperature inside may drop to a degree or two below freezing, but if the sun is out, it warms right back up again during the day.
The dampness is due to the beavers’ repeated need to enter the water both to retrieve sticks from their nearby food supply pile and to defecate. Upon returning to the lodge, the humidity inside increases due to the water draining from the beavers’ fur. No small wonder that if a January thaw permits, beavers will exit their pond for some fresh air, food and a little bit of sunshine.
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Signs Of An Active Beaver Pond
Beaver ponds have finally started to melt, making it easy to determine whether or not there have been beavers living in any existing lodges over the winter. The tell-tale sign is floating de-barked sticks and branches. During the winter, beavers leave their lodge and swim out to their underwater food supply pile and haul branches back into the lodge where they chew them into foot-long pieces for easy handling. The bark is removed and eaten as the beaver holds the stick and turns it, much as we consume corn on the cob. When little or no bark remains, the stick is discarded out in the open water. These sticks remain hidden underneath the ice on the surface of the water until warm weather arrives and the ice begins to melt. At this point the sticks and branches become visible, and often extend several feet out from the lodge. These sticks will not go to waste, but will be used for dam and lodge repairs. (Photo taken standing on lodge.)
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A New Book for Budding Naturalists
Is there a youngster in your life who might love his or her own book about beavers? My third children’s nature book, The Beavers’ Busy Year, has just been released. Having been an ardent admirer of this rodent for many, many years, it is gratifying to have had a chance to instill a love for beavers in youngsters age 3-8 with this non-fiction book. The adaptations of beavers’ noses, eyes, ears, fur, feet and tails are highlighted in the text and photographs take the reader through the seasons of the year from a beaver’s perspective. Activities at the end of the book engage children in matching photographs of various beaver signs such as tracks, scent mounds and incisor marks with written descriptions. There are also activity/informational sections on beaver tails, beavers as engineers and creators of habitat for other wildlife, and dam building. It should be available at your local bookstore, but if not, I’d greatly appreciate your letting them know about it. Thank you!
Beaver Breath
It’s very subtle, but in winter, especially when it is very cold outside, there is a way to tell if a beaver lodge is occupied. The temperature inside the lodge remains relatively stable at around 34 degrees Fahrenheit. When snow falls, it provides added insulation, raising the interior temperature of the lodge slightly. A layer of fat and thick fur keep beavers warmer than the air inside the lodge, plus they raise their body temperature even more by sleeping piled on top of one another. All the moist, warm air that beavers give off through breathing and evaporation escapes through the (mudless) vent that goes up through the center of the roof of the lodge to its apex. The vent’s purpose is the exchange of air; when the warm air inside the lodge rises and hits the cold air outside the lodge, it condenses and forms water vapor that is visible, indicating that there is life inside.
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