Beavers Repairing and Reinforcing Lodges and Dams
Late October and early November is the busiest time of year for beavers. Their entire winter’s food supply must be cut, gathered, transported and piled next to their lodge so that they will have access to it under the ice. Mud, sticks, wads of grass and stones are collected to reinforce the lodge’s thick walls against the cold as well as coyotes and other predators. And dams, the structures which create ponds, must be patched and strengthened to withstand the rigors of winter.
The importance of maintaining a dam in good condition cannot be overstated, for without it, the pond would cease to exist, and no pond means no beavers. As Dietland Muller-Schwarze and Lixing Sun state in the Beaver, a beaver pond is a “highway, canal, escape route, hiding place, vegetable garden, food storage facility, refrigerator/freezer, water storage tank, bathtub, swimming pool and water toilet.” (They defecate only in water.)
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What Goes On When We’re Not Looking
A blind is a wondrous thing, allowing you to observe natural behavior in a natural setting. Having watched beavers for over 50 years, I thought I had seen most of what there is to see regarding Beaver behavior, but this particular morning I was witness to a new activity, namely a game of tag.
The resident Beaver spent the better part of half an hour chasing ducks around its pond. A pair of Mallards were subjected to this annoyance first. When approached, the Mallards would swim away together, with the drake quacking loudly, but obviously weren’t put out too much by this game as they tolerated it for about ten minutes before taking off (undoubtedly in search of a more serene body of water).
No sooner had the Mallards left than a pair of Hooded Mergansers arrived. The Beaver greeted the newcomers and proceeded to chase them around and around the pond, occasionally catching up to them, and then restarting the game all over again. Eventually the mergansers, too, departed, leaving the Beaver king/queen of his/her castle. (Thanks to Mike Keating for photo op.)
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