Beaver Boardwalk Blog

Beaver Feeding on Now

2011-10-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

The annual fall beaver feeding program is about 1 month in. I've given the beavers about 15 loads of branches so far, and the food pile at the lodge is starting to build up. My best count so far this fall is 7 beavers at the feeding location at once, but others have reported as many as 9.

It's been awhile since my last post. Part of the problem is that my new camera doesn't have a way to connect to the computer I usually do my posts from. So I have to copy the photo files to another computer and then transfer them to the computer with my Photoshop software so I can edit the photo. The photo with this post is unedited and is therefore a very large file. Usually I save a lower resolution version of the original image. I'm working on a method to make the process speedier, which should result in more posts!

Duck Nest Boxes 2011 #3

2011-07-12T21:46:00.000-07:00

Around 10:00 AM on Sunday July 10 I was at Maxwell Lake watching a bufflehead duckling perched at the entrance to one of the nest boxes. The hen was flying back and forth and calling to the duckling. She was able to cling to the nest box entrance with her feet without going inside. The duckling eventually lost it's nerve and went back inside and the hen went inside too after some more calling. Thrilling to see for sure! I waited for half an hour hoping they would try again but no luck. And I didn't have my camera with me.

Even better, there's now a Barrow's goldeneye brood on the lake - I think. For sure there was a female goldeneye and 5 ducklings but they were all over the place and back and forth where the bufflehead nest was hatching, so I can't yet be 100% sure those ducklings belong to the goldeneye hen or if they belonged to the bufflehead hen. I'm not good at telling them apart by species at the duckling stage! I'll go check again to make sure. But overall the good news is this is the first year we've had cavity-nesting duck broods on Maxwell Lake. I think there may be still a few more nests to come.

Duck Nest Boxes 2011 #2

2011-06-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

I saw two broods of bufflehead ducklings on another local pond last week so I know that ducking season is here. One hen had 9 little ones that looked to be about a week out of the nest, and the other had 5 that were quite small and probably only a day or so from jumping out of their aerial cavity. I even think I found the pileated woodpecker cavity she probably nested in - it was close by. She's the subject of the first picture. Unfortunately the light was poor so the image is a little grainy.

Last I checked (2 days ago) there were still no ducklings on Maxwell Lake, but I did see a bufflehead hen fly into the nest box by the pond tower to go with the goldeneye hen using one of the boxes on Maxwell Lake. I haven't seen her for a few weeks though, so perhaps she isn't still around.

The second photo is a flipped-over reflection of one of the nest boxes in the still waters of a beaver pond. The evening sun was low and behind me but still bright. The pond was below the sun angle so the light in the reflection was perfect. A beaver had swam through the pond a few minutes before, so there was enought movement in the water to soften the reflection. Another great memory from the beaver boardwalk!

Duck Nest Boxes 2011 #1

2011-06-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

Beaver Boardwalk Blog followers know that I put up 7 nest boxes in spring 2010 in an effort to attract duck species that nest in cavities. Another 4 boxes were erected along beaver ponds up the Happy Creek Trail. A beaver felled the tree that one of the boxes was on, leaving 6 boxes around the Beaver Boardwalk area. No luck on those boxes in 2010, but all 4 of the Happy Creek boxes were used by buffleheads, which was really great to see.

Early signs for 2011 are more promising. I saw a female goldeneye come out of one of the boxes last week and another person saw a female goldeneye going into another box. I haven't been able to confirm which goldeneye species we're seeing - Barrow's or Common. Several pairs of Barrow's goldeneyes were on Maxwell Lake earlier, so my bet is on Barrow's.

With any luck we'll be seeing one or more broods of fluffy young goldeneyes within the next several weeks. I'll update the blog when I get more news to report.

New Town Signs

2011-06-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

Over the winter the Town of Hinton installed a bunch of new signs using the new sign theme for all Hinton signs that was approved last year. There are now new signs on Highway 16 and at other locations that make it easy for visitors to get to the Beaver Boardwalk. That's really great, because a lot of visitors were having difficulty before. Fortunately there were always lots of helpful locals who would set visitors on the right path, and most of them eventually ended up at the Boardwalk.

The photo shows the main new sign erected at the junction of Collinge Road and Sutherland Avenue. I understand the Town also has plans to erect new signs along the trail network in the Boardwalk area.

Beavers grooming each other

2011-01-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

Most of the time beaver grooming is a solitary affair. It's not that beavers are anti-social - not within the family unit at least. They keep very close company and seem to like it. But when it comes to actually touching and interacting with the other guy, that's not quite so common. If a beaver gets too close to another beaver it's more likely that one of the beavers will rebuff the other or simply leave.

This photo shows two beavers, a yearling and a kit, in the process of grooming each other. The kit swam to where the yearling was already engaged in a grooming session and pushed it's way into the action. The yearling didn't miss a beat and switched to grooming the kit, which started to return the favour. This went on for about 5 minutes. Then the embrace ended and each beaver continued to groom itself.

Tallest Beaver Dam?

2010-11-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

Beaver dams are amazing constructions of wood, rocks, and mud that dwarf their makers. Apart from termite mounds they may be the tallest structures made by animals other than humans. Unfortunately there aren't many measured records of dam-building champs to rely on. I've heard reports of and found dams that were about 12 feet (about 3.7 meters) tall but I've never seen a study describing dam dimensions and the folks at the Guiness Book of World Records don't seem to be too interested in beaver dams.

The photo with this post shows a tall beaver dam from Algonquin Park in Ontario. Using Norma as a guide (she's 64" tall) and considering she's not standing at the lowest base of the dam I estimate this dam is pretty close to 10 feet tall.

Feeding the Beavers 2010

2010-11-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

This fall marked the 4th year of my annual fall beaver feeding program. I do this to reduce damage that the beavers do to trees that people don't necessarily want to lose, and to ensure that the beaver colony doesn't eat all their food supply. And the feeding program creates a great opportunity to see the beavers at their food gathering best. Despite the free food, the beavers cut quite a few trees of their own this fall. I'm going to count them and make that into the subject of a future post.

This year I gave the beavers 32 pickup loads of aspen and balsam poplar branches. The photos show one load. It might not seem like much, but the aspen saplings shown in the lake are about 5 m long. That's a lot of branches for me to haul. What's truly amazing though is the removal rate by the beavers. This particular load was dropped off in the late afternoon and it was entirely gone the next morning. Working through the night, the beavers cut up and hauled off the entire load, floating the loot about 300 m from the depot to the food cache they built beside the lodge. Of course all that work takes lots of energy, so the beavers are eating a lot of food as well. What amazes me though is how they take 32 loads like this and make them into one pile at the lodge. The underwater architecture of that pile must be amazing to cram so much into such a small space.

Plastering the Lodge

2010-09-19T17:53:00.000-07:00

Beaver winter preparations include additions to the lodge. There are usually some more logs and branches, but the main ingredient is a fresh coating of mud. When frozen the mixture of mud and wood becomes pretty much impenetrable armour for any predator that might try to break into the winter safehold. It's a little comical to watch the plastering process. The beaver dives to the bottom and scoops up a huge wad of wet mud. When swimming with this load the beaver is front-heavy and tends to sink, so more often the beaver surfaces right where it intends to exit the water. Standing upright on it's hind legs and using the tail for support, the beaver more or less waddles up the lodge to just the right spot.

I've yet to get really good photos of the lodge plastering. These two show a beaver just out of the water with the mud just visible, and a beaver high on the lodge about to dump it's load.

Thistle Clipping 2010

2010-09-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Last year volunteers clipped 2 heaping pickup loads of Canada thistle along the beaver dam while the plants were flowering. The idea was to remove the plant while all of it's energy was devoted to flowering but not to stimulate the roots to end up new shoots. Pulling the plants would have that effect - clipping is more time consuming but doesn't stimulate the roots. Over time, other plants should be able to out-compete the weakened thistles, and they should either die out or become much reduced.

The plan seems to be working. I finished clipping just one pickup load of thistles last week. So in a single year thistles have been reduced by half. And also where the thistles were still growing they didn't dominate the plant community like they did last year. Other plants are getting a foothold. I hope this positive trend continues next year!

Fall Migration is Underway

2010-09-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

Migrating birds wind up in unusual places. Every fall a few birds not usually found in this area stop at the Beaver Boardwalk for a brief rest or visit before moving on to their winter range. In the past several weeks I've seen long-billed dowitcher, pied-billed grebe, horned grebe, and sharp-shinned hawk. Yesterday evening an immature common grackle flew in to roost in the tall shrubs near the beaver feeding area. That was a surprise and I think the first record of common grackle at the Beaver Boardwalk. The horned grebe was a new record also. The list of birds observed at the Beaver Boardwalk continues to grow and now includes more than 150 species. The Whisky-jack Club maintains the official list and publishes a brochure updating the records as they come in.

Red-necked Grebe Rescue

2010-09-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

September 14 was a pretty miserable day - cold and raining hard. Numerous puddles and the wet ground fooled a red-necked grebe into thinking the log yard at Hinton Wood Products sawmill was a water body. Not so, and once on the ground the grebe wasn't able to get airborne again. Grebes and loons must have water deep enough to get a run at if for liftoff. They patter across the water surface building speed using both their wings and their feet. For this purpose, the shallow puddles in the log yard wouldn't do.

Fortunately for the grebe, Dave Wallace, Neil Holder, and Morris Archibald came to the rescue. They caught the bird in a fishing net and deposited it in a cardboard box. Of course the bird didn't know they had good intentions and was quite indignant about the whole affair. A bit of a rodeo, according to the guys. After a short drive Morris opened the box at the Beaver Boardwalk and the grebe got a new start on Maxwell Lake. It was gone a few days later, probably carrying on with fall migration.

Dave Wallace took the photos with this post. The first shows the bird on the ground, and the second shows Morris releasing the grebe at Maxwell Lake.

Beavers Grooming

2010-08-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Beavers spend a lot of time grooming their luxuriant fur to keep it clean and waterproof. The waterproofing comes from an oil they secrete from their anal glands and comb through their fur using a split claw on their hind leg. Recently it's been easy to see beavers grooming over at the feeding station by the Maxwell Lake picnic tables. After the free feast they gather as singles or small groups and set about the serious business of grooming. Sometimes they groom each other. Sometimes a youngster wants to play, and the older beaver decides to move and groom somewhere else. In this photo 3 yearlings have finished eating and have started to groom, while the animal on the left is still having dinner.

Beaver Photographers

2010-07-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

The Beaver Boardwalk is starting to attract the attention of some pretty serious photographers. Last fall renowned Vancouver wildlife photographer Norman Rich (check out his amazing photos here) came for a visit, and I hear he plans to return sometime this summer. This evening 3 photographers from Jasper with some impressive camera equipment were here taking beaver photos. Our beavers are so used to a human audience they go about their business at close range and often in broad daylight. And the boardwalk gives great access to their living space. There probably aren't too many better places to get great photos of wild beavers in their natural habitat than right here at the Beaver Boardwalk.

Beaver Balancing

2010-07-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

That amazing beaver tail serves many purposes. When a beaver wants to eat while floating it has to raise it's head a little higher than normal so it doesn't get a mouthful of water with it's food. That tends to sink the middle of the body. To remain floating neutral and balanced, the beaver arches it's back and raises it's tail. An adult like the animal in this photo only needs to raise the tail to the water surface. Smaller beavers will actually raise their tail right out of the water. It's a somewhat comical sight. I'm sure the beavers don't care - floating with no effort while dining is what they are after, and that amazing tail makes it easy to do.

Summer feeding

2010-07-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

Just for fun I hauled a couple of loads of fresh aspen branches to Maxwell Lake in July. The beavers didn't take long to find them, and even though it's still a month from food cache building time, they took advantage of the free feast. The photo shows 3 beavers happily munching. The animal in the lower left is an adult, and the other two are yearlings (born in 2009). I haven't seen any young born in 2010 yet but I'm sure they've been out for at least short periods around the lodge already. I still see beavers taking green branches into the lodge so I'm assuming that meals are still being served in the dark and cozy kit nursery.

Dam Maintenance

2010-07-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

The beavers have started repairing their dams with a fresh coat of mud, perhaps in response to the recent rains and higher water levels. This evening about a dozen people watched at very close range as an adult repeatedly dove for arm fulls of mud to place on the dam. A boil of bubbles marked the location of the underwater beaver's excavation, and then a line of bubbles marked underwater progress toward the dam. The beaver surfaced just before the dam, with it's head pretty low in the water. That top-heavy load of mud must be pretty hard to swim with!

I noticed that the beaver often closed it's eyes while carrying and placing the mud - perhaps to protect against debris. The technique was pretty simple - the beaver simply pushed up on the dam, using it's chest to bulldoze the mud, and then it's front paws to distribute the load to it's satisfaction.

The first photo shows the load of mud, and the second shows the load being pushed up by the beaver's chest.

Construction Completion

2010-07-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

On July 1, 2010 I put up the last 3 Welcome signs and the last 5 You Are Here signs. That brings to completion all of the construction work for the Beaver Boardwalk. I don't have anything left to do that I wanted to do. Guess it's fitting to finish it on Canada Day, 4 1/2 years since the start. I sure didn't think it would go on that long when I got the original idea, nor did I think it would get to be such a big project. The reward was just as much in the work as it was in the achievement. It gave me something to focus on, and I met a lot of great people who volunteered their time to help.

The best reward though is seeing people using the Beaver Boardwalk and enjoying themselves. While I was putting up the last sign at the east end of Maxwell Lake I met a couple visiting from somewhere non-local (I forgot to ask where). It was mid-morning so they hadn't seen any beavers and were a little disappointed. As I was installing the sign they walked the lower path to the lake tower. I could hear an upset sora over there. When they came back they asked if I knew what that small bird with the bright yellow bill was - a sora had walked out right in front of them at very close range. They were thrilled. For those who don't know the sora, it's a small very secretive bird of freshwater wetlands. Although it's the most widely-distributed member of the rail family in North America, it's much more often heard then seen. There's always special moments on the Beaver Boardwalk!

A Beaver to Touch

2010-06-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

I'm always amazed by some of the beaver behaviours I see. Beavers like to eat their supper in peace and quiet, and shallow water they can put their back feet down in is always a good choice. That lets the beaver use it's front paws to manipulate the food item. But what to do when supper is in a small shallow pond with people walking by? Simple - take your willow branch under the boardwalk. This young beaver figured out of sight was out of danger. It wasn't just hiding under the boardwalk - it was quite happily munching. And it didn't stop even when I stood on the boards it was hiding under. I'm sure it knew I was there. After several minutes of being amazed at this, I couldn't resist putting my finger down between the boards to touch the beaver on the back, just to see what would happen. Nothing - beaver simply kept on with the meal. Now how often can one claim to have touched a wild beaver? That's a first for me!

When the beaver was finished it came out from under the boardwalk, saw me, and promptly dove. Not for long though. It swam alongside the boardwalk for about 15 m and then came up again underneath. This must have been a routine, because there was another willow branch already there, and the dinner continued. Two other people came by and we all marvelled at the beaver beneath our feet. The first photo shows the original willow branch just disappearing under the boardwalk, and the second shows the beaver's rich chocolate fur between the boards. Click the photo to see a closer view.

Ring-necked Duck Drama

2010-06-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

This evening a ring-necked duck hen accompanied by 10 active youngsters was minding her own business at the west end of Maxwell Lake. Then she was ambushed by 2 aggressive males. They chased her and wouldn't leave her alone. At one point one of the males climbed on her back, perhaps in an attempt to mate. Her brood was scattered, although they didn't seem to mind and continued to catch insects along the shoreline and over the lily pads. The photo shows the males, the female, and one duckling in a calmer moment. Eventually the female retreated to the sedges and the males flew over to the beaver pond. I checked again about 15 minutes later and 6 ducklings were still foraging. The others and the female were probably out of sight in the sedges.

A Slap-happy Beaver

2010-06-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

Beavers slap their tails on the water when they are upset about anything they view as a threat. The loud noise may startle an animal and it also warns other beavers about the danger. The Maxwell beaver family is pretty tame and normally it's members don't slap their tails a lot at people to indicate their alarm. The beaver colonies further up Happy Creek are another story. Those beavers don't particularly care for people at close range, and a large adult let me know it last week, swimming back and forth and slapping repeatedly while I sat on the bank nearby and tried to capture the action in photos.

How can you tell when a beaver is going to slap? First off, they swim with their head much higher in the water than usual, as shown in the first photo. After the first slap swimming back and forth is a sure sign of continued agitation. It's really hard to time the actual action because it happens so fast. I got a decent photo of the early part of the slap - the beaver initiates a dive which raises it's tail above the water and produces speed. As the beaver continues the dive the flat tail whacks the water hard.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of the height of the splash. This somewhat blurry frame was the best I could do. The splash is pretty impressive, and the noise carries a long way. Often the beaver surfaces again right away and continues to swim back and forth slapping until the intruder leaves. Other times the beaver simply disappears - either swimming underwater to a burrow or lodge or simply holding it's breath while wedged under some underwater anchor like a log. I once watched a beaver who had slapped and then stayed under a log for over 10 minutes. I could clearly see the beaver remaining still under the submerged log. I left because I really didn't want to see how long a beaver could hold it's breath and I'm sure that beaver agreed with me.

Bufflehead Broods

2010-06-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

It looks like no ducks nested in the Maxwell Lake nest boxes I put up this spring, but I had much higher hopes for the 4 boxes up Happy Creek. All were well attended by bufflehead and I'm pretty sure they were occupied. I won't know for sure until this winter when I open the boxes to clean them. That's when I'll see if there are any eggshells inside.

Last week my watching was rewarded with two bufflehead broods near two of the nest boxes. The first hen had 10 tiny ducklings and the second had 8. There are still bufflehead hens near the other two boxes, so they might produce little fluffballs yet.

I haven't had much luck getting a good photo of the broods. This photo shows the bufflhead hen with 8 ducklings. Also on the Happy Creek ponds are two mallard hens, one with 2 ducklings and the other with 9.

Goats and Groundhogs

2010-06-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

Eight days ago I was lucky enough to get into good position to watch a mountain goat nanny with a new kid feeding in the trees below me on a steep slope. Although I was only about 30 m from the goats they had no idea I was there. Unfortunately the dense vegetation didn't make for great photography opportunities, but I did get this "window in a wall of green" shot of the kid.

While I was waiting I heard a sound to my left. The noisemaker turned out to be a marmot (also known as groundhog or woodchuck). Marmots are pretty uncommon sights in our area, especially in forest habitats. This marmot cautiously moved to the entrance to it's den, where I took the second photo that shows both the marmot and the goats in the same frame. You never know what you will see when you stand quietly in the forest.

Mallard Family

2010-06-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

This hen mallard with 9 ducklings appeared on Maxwell Lake over a week ago, which is pretty early for ducklings around here. Many have seen her since as she's quite tame and let's people approach fairly closely. On Saturday evening I got a chance to take some photos of her with brood as the light was fading. The ducklings are growing rapidly and are more than twice as big as they were when they first appeared.

I'm still seeing ring-necked ducks on the lake so I'm hopeful that we'll soon see a few broods from them as well. And bufflehead broods from the new nest boxes up Happy Creek are a virtual certainty. I'm pretty sure all 4 boxes are occupied.

June Hail

2010-06-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday around dinner time the Hinton Hill District was treated to a really strong storm cell. Pea-sized hail followed by heavy rain. A real frog-drowner, as a friend once said. By the time I got home from work there was about 5 cm of hail on my front lawn. The hail severely damaged the newly sprouted leaves on deciduous trees and neatly plucked the small new candles of spruce needles from a tree beside the house. All the bedding plants my wife put out over the weekend were thrashed.

At 10:00 PM I went over to the Boardwalk to see if there were any changes. Happy Creek was raging at bank full depth, and the beaver dam was overflowing at many places. Two beavers were swimming back and forth watching for big leaks, but otherwise they weren't attempting to repair the flows. The dam is designed to take floods in stride - the excess water washes over but doesn't breach the dam.

At Maxwell Lake 3 more beavers were either feasting on water lily pads or up on the bank bending over willows to eat the new leaves. I watched two up on the bank about 10 m away for 15 minutes as the light faded and the mist after the rain wafted over the lake. Then a barred owl called 3 times from across the lake. A fitting end to an unusual day.

Beavers on Cue

2010-05-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

Friday evening was cool, cloudy, and wet - not the best weather to tour tourism folks squired by Ashley Kalk from the Town. We met about 6:15 PM and walked the main beaver pond and the upstream loop. At the start I mentioned that beaver sightings were pretty much guaranteed in the late evening, but we might be a little early for today. As we only had 20 minutes for the tour I hoped at least one would be out and about.

Sure enough, a yearling was swimming in the main pond between the lodge and the dam. One woman said that was the first beaver she had ever seen in her life. She was thrilled. We watched for a few minutes and then quickly walked the upstream loop, where we encountered an adult. This beaver swam right alongside us, came out of the water to browse willow leaves, and clipped a willow to continue it's supper in shallow water beside the dam. All of this was less than 10 meters from 8 excited people.

Our last stop was at the observation tower, where 4 beavers were active in the waters below. One climbed up on the lodge with a load of mud. Needless to say, the duration of the tour got extended a bit by all the beaver watching.

Coltsfoot is flowering

2010-05-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Queen Victoria's birthday was kind in 2010. We didn't get snow on the long weekend, at least in Hinton town. But the hills and mountains had a fresh white coat and it was pretty cool. Pretty typical. That doesn't take away from the hardy early spring flowers, which are used to the occasional snowfall. The flower stalks of the palmate-leaved coltsfoot Petasites palmatus are blooming along the Beaver Boardwalk right now. With this species it's hard to connect the characteristic palmate leaves with the flowers, because the flowers appear before the leaves. The young flower stalks and the leaves are edible. If you'd like to try them please don't pick near the Boardwalk, and only take a portion of the plants in any area so they will continue to grow there.

Interestingly, the palmate-leaved coltsfoot leaves are far more common than the flower stalks. It's a very common forest floor sight, but most of these plants don't have enough sunlight to flower. The genus name Petasites means "wide-brimmed hat", which refers to the large leaves.

Waterfowl Sign

2010-05-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

The last of the 3 new signs put up last Saturday was the waterfowl sign. Still to come is the large mammals sign, but first we need to replace the plywood backing, which was damaged over the winter.

Wildflowers Sign

2010-05-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here's the new wildflowers sign. I apologize for the resolution of the image on these. I haven't figured out yet how to get a high quality .jpg from the .pdf original. When I do I'll replace these low quality versions.

Owls Sign

2010-05-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

The last of the 12 interpretive signs recently arrived from the production company, and I put up three of them last Saturday. I'll do a series of short posts to publish them on the blog. The first one shows some of the owls that frequent the boardwalk. A walk in late evening or a calm moon lit night is a good chance to hear one or more of the local species. I'm also planning to put up a few owl nesting structures this coming winter. The locations of those will be secret because owls like their privacy when they are nesting.

Loons on Maxwell Lake

2010-05-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

Another loon has joined the bird that's been on Maxwell Lake for over a week now. Perhaps this is the pair that nested last year on nearby Thompson Lake about 1 km east. Or maybe it's another pair that is not going to breed this year or just resting on the way to somewhere else. Regardless, it's nice to see loons visit even if they will probably decide not to stay. I'm sure they are both feasting on the plentiful sticklebacks in the lake.

Two days ago I walked around Wildhorse Lake and enjoyed the loud calling between 2 pairs of loons, along with the creaky caterwauling of several pairs of red-necked grebes. One loon pair escorted me by swimming alongside as I walked the shoreline trail. They did a lot of calling at one point and I wondered if I might be near a nest, but I couldn't see any likely spots. Loons nest very near water because their legs are located too far back for good mobility on land.

I saw a website poll a few days ago that is collecting suggestions for a Canadian National Bird. The red-tailed hawk was leading the poll, followed at a distant second tie between the Canada goose and the common loon. In my opinion it's no contest - the loon is the quintessential Canadian bird. After all, it's on our money and we nickname no less than two of our coins after the loon.

A Log in the Forest

2010-05-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

A morning or evening walk in mixedwood or deciduous forest in late April or early May often yields a spring icon - the drumming of a male ruffed grouse. Have you ever attempted to sneak in close enough to see the drumming male? It can be surprisingly difficult. The grouse is out to impress the females, but he isn't too keen to end up on some predator's menu while he beats his ardor to the world. Fortunately, the grouse is a creature of habit. He has a favourite log to drum on, and he will return to that log over and over again, even between years. If one flushes him from his log and sits and then waits patiently nearby (but not too close) he may return fairly quickly. Even better is to locate the log, and then get there ahead of him to await his next session.

If you don't see the grouse leave his log, keep walking and look for an accumulation of droppings and a worn look, as shown in the photo with this post. Older logs with some rot are favoured, and so are logs located in cover (the better to discourage predators).

Back in high school a friend and I headed to our favourite lake for a fishing trip. We got there after dark, pitched our tent in the forest, and turned in. The wake-up call came at about 4:30 AM. In the dark we had inadvertently tied our tent rope to a ruffed grouse's drumming log. That particular grouse wasn't going to let a minor thing like a tent deter his schedule. At close range the drumming is really loud. We wanted to sleep, so we shooed him away. He was back within 15 minutes. After 2 or 3 repeats of this exercise we gave up and got up. And we moved our tent so he could have his log to himself the next morning.

How to Find a Goose Nest

2010-05-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

Canada geese often nest in very conspicuous locations. But not always. Years ago I spent an enjoyable 7 springs searching for goose nests along the Columbia River in B.C. and learned a lot of their preferences. Usually a single goose in the spring is a good indicator that there's a nest not too far away. A secretive single goose is a smoking hot sure thing. Usually that single goose is the gander and he's not too far from the nest - in fact he can usually see it from his watch position.

Next comes a mental picture of the kinds of sites the goose chooses for her nest. She likes privacy but also wants a good view of her surroundings. A small island or isolated penninsula is ideal. Her brown plumage blends in with the dry grasses and other muted colours, and she hides that spectacular black head with the white markings by putting her head down and remaining very still when an intruder is near.

So putting all this together, recently I surprised a gander at close range on an old beaver pond. He had his head down when I first saw him which means he saw me first but didn't have time to do a better job of hiding. The photo shows him after he knew I had seen him and he's just about to leave. He left silently instead of the usual loud honking exit, which is another tip-off a nest was near.

It didn't take me long to find the goose on her nest. She was on top of an old beaver lodge only about 40 m from the gander. You might have to zoom in to the second photo to see her right in the middle of the frame.

She's pretty hard to see, isn't she? But not hard to find at all if you know what to look for. The goose will hold very close to her nest as long as she thinks you haven't seen her. I've seen people walk right by a nesting goose in plain view within a few meters and never see the goose. Look at her though and she's gone, and she leaves loudly. If you aren't expecting it, you could get a pretty good startle! When she leaves the gander will immediately fly to her and both will remain very upset and vocal until the intruder leaves the area.

Aspen leaf flush

2010-04-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

Nature sometimes acts pretty fast. This morning I drove to Edson for a meeting. By the time I returned in mid-afternoon leaf flush on aspen trees was obvious. No sign of green in the morning, and I was looking for it. Of course the fact that today was an extraordinarily warm day probably had something to do with the accelerated appearance of leaves. The thermometer at my house said +27 at 5:00 PM.

Leaf flush isn't even. Only some trees are turning green, and often they are in clumps. The clumps are actually clones - all genetically identical with a common root system. Each clone has it's own clock. Some turn green a week or more before their neighbours. It's the same pattern in the fall - some clones turn golden earlier than others.

On my drive I noted a common loon on a roadside lake and a rough-legged hawk soaring over the highway. Those are both first observations of the year for me.

Wood frogs quacking

2010-04-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

The unseasonably warm weather of the past few days has the spring wood frog chorus going in full quack. That's what they sound like - more like a duck than a frog. I counted about 150 mostly males serenading themselves and a few females along the south shore of Maxwell Lake in the largest group. Other males were calling individually or in small groups all along the shore and in the beaver pond right beneath the observation tower. Only a few males were clutching females, and there were no egg masses. This means that the main breeding period is still to come. As the water continues to warm the evening chorus will continue to swell.

An adult bald eagle flew over the lake while I was there, and 3 Wilson's snipe swirled down to roost in the dry sedges at dusk. Robin song filled the air, along with a few dark-eyed juncos and a solitary red-winged blackbird. There aren't many birds back yet, but those that are were busy establishing their territorial claims. I wasn't alone appreciating the fine evening - I counted 74 people in the hour and a half I was there.

Gray jay nest

2010-04-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while on a run I heard gray jays making a big commotion in the forest ahead. I slowed down and then stopped to watch 2 adult birds harassing a raven perched in a nearby tree. A few minutes later the raven, obviously having had enough of the frantic jays, flew off. The jays settled down immediately. Within another minute they both flew to their nest, giving away the location high in a spruce tree. I couldn't see the nest very well because of obscuring branches, but I did see the adults carrying food to the nest and carrying away fecal sacs, so I know there are young in the nest.

Gray jays are among the earliest nesting of our local birds. Often the dark fledged young of the year accompany their parents about the same time as migrants arrive and start building nests. The photo with this article was taken by Dan Strickland and it illustrates one of the risks of nesting early. Gray jays are very tough birds. I was thrilled to see this first ever, for me, gray jay nest.

Vandal hits nestbox

2010-04-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

I thought about it. I knew better. I did it anyway. I put a nestbox on a living black poplar because I didn't want to prune limbs from a nearby spruce tree. I thought, it's pretty unlikely the beavers will come all the way down to this end of the lake just to cut down one little tree. Ha! A lot I know. As you've guessed by now, the beavers cut down that poplar. They chopped up the tree and ate every last bit of the twigs and bark. Donna LeLacheur called today and said she and Jodi Archibald had fished the waterlogged box, still attached to the remains of the beaver's feast, out of the lake and would I like to come and pick it up. Thanks for helping out and yes I would. The box is now at home drying out before I put it up again. And this time it won't be on a deciduous tree!

The waterfowl have returned to Maxwell Lake. This evening there were a pair each of American widgeon, bufflehead, and common goldeneye on the lake. The goldeneye and bufflehead are the target species for the nest boxes. It's ironic that the ducks arrived on the same day the vandals struck. Oh well, these vandals were just after a square meal. Or maybe they don't like ducks for neighbours.

Lots of beavers

2010-04-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

Maxwell Lake is almost completely ice-free and the beavers are enjoying their freedom after a long winter cooped up in the lodge. Both adults and a long yearling (almost 2 years old) were in the main lake this evening, and 4 short yearlings (approaching their first birthday) were near the lodge. Three young girls followed one of the adults down the channel toward the lake and they were thrilled when it swam under the bridge at their feet. The picture with this post is that animal after it climbed out for a look just above the bridge. It's just diving back into the water.

At the lodge the youngsters were clipping and noisily munching on green shoots from the sedge clumps at the edge of the pond. Three of them were engaged in this activity right below the pond tower. The light was too poor for good photos. I got lots of blurry shots that could be called abstract or artistic if one was in a charitable mood. I deleted them. The light was good enough for video though and I got a couple of short videos that were pretty good.

This evening also marks the arrival of the first singing male red-winged blackbird of the season, and I heard 2 wood frogs calling from 2 separate locations. With a few more warm evenings the frog chorus should start to build quickly.

An early spring flower

2010-04-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

Catkins of poplars and willows have been in bloom for several weeks now. I found new blossoms of the prairie crocus in Jasper on March 28, but those spring pioneers don't grow at the Beaver Boardwalk. The flower in the picture is from the Canada buffaloberry, a low deciduous shrub of dry habitats that's common in the Boardwalk area. The showy but very small yellow flowers aren't open at the Boardwalk yet but the flower buds are swelling and should open soon. This picture was taken today on a warm open slope about 20 km west in Jasper National Park.

Sheperdia canadensis has many common names, including buffaloberry, soopalalie, soapberry, and foamberry. Male and female flowers appear on separate plants. While it's easy to miss the tiny flowers, the clusters of shiny red berries that appear in summer are hard to miss. I'll cover them in a future post.

Return of the geese

2010-04-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

OK, the photo doesn't show geese, but read on... Last night the mercury dropped to -9 and today was raw, windy, and cold. Much of the beaver pond and about half of Maxwell Lake had been open water but now a thin clear sheen of new ice covers all but the middle of the lake. Spring is still pushing ahead. At dusk a single honk heralded the arrival of a Canada goose pair, who glided in and landed on the ice near the lake tower. I 'm sure they will check out the waterfowl platform. There's been a crow checking it out plenty lately - the black bandit shown in the photo. I think it's been having a feast on the grass seed I spread a few weeks ago. Or at least that's what it seemed to be eating. I hope it doesn't get all of the future greenery.

At the west end of the lake two beavers were having supper along the shoreline. They have been back in the lake and actively cutting fresh willow shoots for almost a week now. Pussywillows seem to be a favourite.

Beaver close up

2010-04-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

Open water is still in scarce supply at the Beaver Boardwalk, but every day a little more appears. This evening a large adult beaver surfaced from under the ice right beside the boardwalk and posed for this portrait. Then it climbed out of the water and ambled up the dam to cut a willow shoot, which it dragged the rest of the way up the dam. After towing the branch to the lodge the beaver submerged with it's supper, which was no doubt shared with others inside.

Six people were fortunate to see this display of calm nonchalance within a few meters, talking and taking photos all the while. I got a couple of great video clips as well as some good stills. I'm going to set up a YouTlube account and post some of the better videos soon.

Woodpecker stripes

2010-04-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

Many people know that denuded tree trunks and piles of bark scales on the ground at the end of winter are the work of woodpeckers, but have you ever noticed the striped scaling pattern on living pine trees created by the king of the scalers, the three-toed woodpecker? This photo, taken yesterday, shows fresh horizontal stripes created by methodical exploration for the larvae of bark beetles. I know they're fresh because the bark scales were on top of last fall's needlefall. Close examination of the pattern shows a shallow irregular furrow created by the bird's bill striking sideways blows. I've often watched three toed woodpeckers working industiously across and up and down tree trunks. In this case bark beetle galleries and chambers were hard to find, indicating that the woodpecker did a lot of work for little reward.

Once one knows what to look for, pine stripes are actually fairly common in our local forests. For some reason stripes are usually only on one side of the tree, and that side often faces an opening.

This second photo shows what happens when a woodpecker locates bark beetle larvae under the bark. The stripes merge to form large patches, and if you look closely you can usually find larval galleries and chambers with missing larvae - clear evidence that the woodpecker got a meal. Three toed woodpeckers spend the winter finding and feasting on bark beetles that have attacked dead or dying trees. Evidence of their work is everywhere at this time of the year.

And soon, the sound of drumming will announce the start of the woodpecker breeding season. More on that in a future post.

Pileated woodpecker sighting

2010-04-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I went back to check out the pileated woodpecker excavation I found on March 28. I don't think the birds have done much since, but I'll keep watching. I also checked a tree used for nesting a decade ago for new sign, because pileateds often reuse old nest trees. Sure enough, there were a few handfulls of fresh chips on the ground. Another one to watch.

Yesterday Diane Renaud saw a pileated woodpecker chiselling holes in the roots of a dead black spruce beside the boardwalk on the upstream loop. The bird was after carpenter ants, which is both the favourite food and diet mainstay of our largest woodpecker. Fresh excavation sign is all over the boardwalk area, which is another sign that the local pair of pileated woodpeckers will nest somewhere in the vicinity this year. During the nesting period pairs pick a nest site and then don't go too far away until the young leave the nest. Lots of sign in an area during the nesting period is a sure indication a nest isn't too far away.

A Raven's Nest

2010-04-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

My running route this afternoon went to the top of the Just Giver trail west of Happy Creek, which is where I spied a bundle of sticks in the forked top of an aspen tree that wasn't there last year. Whacking the trunk with a stick rewarded me with the silent exit of an adult raven. Likely the pair is incubating eggs right now. It will be interesting to watch the progression of the raven family over the nesting season.

Ravens, red-tailed hawks, northern goshawks, ospreys, and bald eagles are the main builders of large stick nests in our area. Raven nests are often near openings, sometimes in isolated trees. Goshawks and red-tails are more secretive, locating their nests below the top of the canopy in denser forest. Ospreys and eagles make massive nests, often in the open near water, that they add to year after year.

Other big birds, especially our 2 largest owls, use old stick nests for their own nests - great gray owls and great horned owls are the likely opportunists. You never know what might be on top of that platform. Several years ago a researcher studying American marten sometimes found his radiotagged animals loafing on stick nests on warm days. A nice private breezy place. What more could a snoozy marten want?

Beavers and robins

2010-03-30T19:39:00.000-07:00

There's open water around the beaver lodge so I went over after sundown this evening to look for beavers. I saw 3. Two were floating near the lodge and both of these slapped their tails and went under when they saw me. The 3rd beaver was just below the dam and this one submerged silently and swam under the ice. I waited 5 minutes but it didn't come up. Beavers can hold their breath for 15 minutes or more and I'm sure this one just decided to wait me out, as it really didn't have anywhere to go other than back over the dam into the main pond.

While I was waiting for the beaver to reappear a robin started chirping by the observation tower. That is the first robin of the year for me. I got a blurry photo of my bird, a male, sitting on top of a spruce tree. There was another one calling further away toward Maxwell Lake.

Pileated woodpecker nest testing

2010-03-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

Pileated woodpeckers in this area often nest in a living aspen infected with a fungus called Phellinus tremulae. The fungus attacks living trees and rots the heartwood inside an outer shell of sound living sapwood. The fungus forms hoof-shaped fruiting bodies on the outside of the tree called conks. Hence the common name for this fungus - the horse-hoof conk. Although they are strong enough to chip away at very hard wood, even pileated woodpeckers don't like to excavate their nest cavities entirely in hard wood. Large aspens with heartrot are their favourite.

Each spring mated pairs explore for possible nest trees. They are well into the process for this spring, and yesterday I found a test excavation behind Maxwell Lake. There were actually 3 test holes on one tree. Perhaps the tree didn't have enough rot, because I couldn't see any fungal conks on the trunk and the chips on the ground were sound. There is dark hardwood at the back of the excavation however, which might mean rot is present. I'll keep watching the tree to see if the woodpeckers agree with me or not.

Sometimes a woodpecker pair will return years later to an old abandoned start and complete it for use as a nest cavity. There's some evidence to suggest that the original test hole might have actually introduced the fungus to the tree, in which case the woodpeckers are helping their own cause. Clearly the original tree met their requirements, but it didn't have enough rot. No problem, just inoculate the tree and come back later. A neat process to ensure a long-term supply of suitable nest trees.

Spruce buds and squirrels

2010-03-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

Every year about this time tiny spruce branch tips appear on the ground. What's going on? Red squirrels are clipping the tips to eat the buds, which are starting to swell as spring advances. Squirrels don't have much to eat right now. Their winter cone middens are getting low, and not much new growth has started. The spruce buds are probably both nutritious and tasty, at least until something better comes along.

I've watched squirrels clipping the tips. They're pretty quick, clipping the twig, turning it to bite off the bud, and dropping it almost in one motion. The first time I watched this activity I had a hard time picking up the bud removal part even with binoculars. To complicate things, sometimes the squirrel clips the twig and just drops it. I don't know if that's deliberate, but I suspect it is. Maybe the squirrels can discern whether or not the bud is a good one, or maybe the protective nest of needles on some buds is too much trouble.

I have another theory about the significance of this. Spruce cone crops are variable, with several years of low crops followed by a bumper crop. Red squirrels actually have bigger litters in the bumper year. This makes sense - the young squirrels will have better survival if there's lots of food for them in that difficult first winter. But what signal causes the squirrels to have bigger litters, which are born before the cones ripen in the late summer? Perhaps this twig clipping is a way to measure how many of those buds are normal vegetative buds, and how many are reproductive buds which will form male and female cones. Whatever the mechanism is, the squirrels somehow know when it's time to have lots of kids. Amazing.

Owls calling

2010-03-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

This evening I hiked up the Happy Creek Trail and put up 2 more duck nest boxes on the upper beaver ponds. I'll do the last 2 tomorrow evening. Carrying a box in each hand all the way up there is hard work. It doesn't seem they weigh much but carrying them for a few km on slippery trails definitely got my arms complaining. The highlight was a barred owl that decided to hoot a few times from pretty close range while I was putting up the first box. I absolutely love barred owl calls. It only called twice. I waited awhile and then tried to imitate it but got no response.

After I hung the second box I detoured off the trail to check one of my old pileated woodpecker cavity trees and got rewarded when a boreal owl stuck it's head out of the hole right at dusk. It didn't stay at the entrance for more than 15 seconds and no amount of scratching on the tree could get it to look out again. There were downy feathers stuck to the entrance which could mean this little owl might have been using that woodpecker hole for some time. Two owls in one evening was pretty good fortune in my books. Some of the Whisky-jack club folks went out last Saturday night and got a northern saw-whet owl calling on the downstream boardwalk loop along Happy Creek. This is the time of year when one is most likely to find an owl or two calling from just before dark on into the night.

Waterfowl Platform Raised

2010-03-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

Last year I misjudged the high water mark on Maxwell Lake, and the waterfowl platform we put in at the east end of the lake became the submarine platform instead. Recently I added another 2x8 frame and filled it with soil. I also put a smaller box on top with wood chips and sedges in the hope that a Canada goose pair will nest there this spring. And finally I seeded grass and spread fertilizer to get some green going.

It was pretty windy, so the photo looks a little messy from all the windblown dirt. That will fall to the lake bottom when the ice melts and the platform will look even better when the grass sprouts.

While I was there a troupe of chickadees was calling over by the lake tower, and several birds were noisily calling the "fee-bee" song that's always an early sign of spring. Pussywillows are out too at the end of the lake. All we need is an extended period of warm days and winter's grip will be broken.

Waterfowl Nest Boxes

2010-03-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I put up 7 waterfowl nest boxes around Maxwell Lake and the lower Happy Creek beaver ponds. Two boxes are close to the observation towers, in the hope that if a duck uses them her comings and goings will be observable from the towers. The rest of the boxes were put in quieter spots, where a duck hen might feel more comfortable setting up housekeeping without those curious human eyes close at hand.

Which species might use the boxes? The common goldeneye and bufflehead are the 2 most likely to take up residence. Both species always use Maxwell Lake during the spring migration period and might decide to stay and raise a family. If we're fortunate, maybe Barrow's goldeneye or hooded merganser might show up, and at an outside chance (pretty low chance, I admit) maybe a wood duck. That's about it for cavity-nesting ducks, but we can also expect to see other species using the boxes. After all, a hole in a tree is a home to many. Small owls and squirrels will certainly take up at least temporary residence, and other species that like cavities like bats will likely use the boxes at times.

I meant to number the boxes but forgot until after I had the last one up. Next winter when I check them for signs of use and to give them a good cleaning I'll add the numbers. In the meantime, if you see any wildlife using the boxes, please let me know. I'll report here in the blog.

One last thing - it's been reported that some duck hens actually might select their nest site during fall migration the year before. So if we get no takers in 2010, there's always hope for next year!

Signs of Spring

2010-03-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

To go with the recent warm weather we have the earliest of spring birds starting their annual cycle. Crows, Canada geese, and bald eagles have all been spotted in the last few days. Two days ago I saw a magpie carrying nest material into a young spruce tree where it was busy making it's nest of sticks.

Every spring I watch for the arrival of the thrush cousins, the American robin and the varied thrush. It seems to be a race between the two - some years the robin arrives first and others it's the thrush. Sometime in the second week of April is about right for Hinton. Who will be first in 2010?

This weekend I'm going to put up some duck nesting boxes around Maxwell Lake in the hope that a few cavity-nesting species such as the common goldeneye and bufflehead will make the area their home this spring. Watch for the boxes mounted on trees and let me know if you see any ducks entering or leaving.

Should we shovel?

2010-01-23T19:02:00.000-08:00

An anonymous citizen recently asked the Town to clear the snow from the Boardwalk. That would be a pretty big job. And even a quad with a snowblade would likely damage the wood structure, especially the 2x4 curbing. So I'm not too keen on mechanical equipment being used. I think a snowblower would work pretty well if it was used immediately after a fresh snowfall before the snow got packed by users.

Snow clearing would certainly make it easier to get around in the winter, especially for folks who aren't too steady on their feet and those who need a wheelchair to get around. On the other hand, I personally like tromping through the snow and seeing all the people and critter tracks.

In the end it comes down to a tradeoff between the benefits of clearing and the costs - damage and dollars. I think it's a good idea to shovel the boardwalk when the packed snow turns to ice near the end of winter. That's when it makes sense. The ice is slippery and removing it will speed the drying of the boardwalk for the spring season. Anyone who wants to bring their shovel along at the tail end of winter would be more than welcome. Maybe I'll see you out there!

Trees of the Boardwalk - White spruce 1

2010-01-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

White spruce cones are longer than the short, almost round cones of black spruce. The female cones are near the top of the tree and the smaller male cones are lower down. The male pollen is blown by the wind to the female flower structures, and having the males in the lower story helps ensure the pollen goes to other trees, preventing self-fertilization.

White spruce cone crops are somewhat erratic, occuring every 5-7 years or so. When a bumper crop comes along maturing cones cover the upper branches, and they spark a bonanza for wildlife. Red squirrels clip the cones in a constant fall. Then the squirrels race to store the cones before they ripen and start to dry out and open, spilling their seed cargo. Seed-eating birds appear from nowhere to feast on the cones still attached to the trees. Seed specialists often seen at the Boardwalk when spruce seeds are abundant are white-winged crossbill, pine siskin, and pine grosbeak.

Trees of the Boardwalk - black spruce 1

2010-01-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

Two of the three local spruce species are found at the Beaver Boardwalk. Unfortunately you can't tell black spruce and white spruce apart by their colour namesakes. The 3rd species, Engelmann spruce, is only located at higher elevations near treeline in our area. Black spruce is the smallest local species. The biggest local specimens seldom exceed about 40 cm in diameter and 20 m in height. Although black spruce will grow in a wide range of soil conditions, it's most abundant on organic wetland soils. However in eastern Canada black spruce is associated with mineral soils in upland areas.

The best way to tell the difference between black spruce and white spruce is by looking at the cones. Both species have smooth, sometimes pitchy, cones. The longer white spruce cones open as they mature and tiny winged seeds spill from the open cones to be blown where the wind takes them. In contrast, black spruce cones are smaller and rounder. And while they may open while still on the tree like white spruce, they often remain closed for years, waiting for a hot sunny day or a forest fire to open the cones and spill the seeds.

Boardwalk users may have noticed a dark brown stain on the edges of the decking in a few places. The stain came from black spruce cones schucked by red squirrels on the edge of the structure. Rain soaked the discarded cone scales leaked the dark stain. It will be interesting to see how long that stain lasts!

New Year's Eve at the Boardwalk

2009-12-31T22:25:00.000-08:00

This afternoon my daughter Susan and I walked around the Boardwalk and for a change we had it all to ourselves. Maybe that's because the temperature was -20 and there was a stiff breeze. Regardless, tracks in the snow showed that others had braved the path before us. And there were other stories written in the snow. We saw numerous tracks of snowshoe hares, especially where the brush was thick.

Snowshoe hare populations follow a cycle that peaks about every 10 years before crashing. We must be near the peak this winter because there are lots of hare tracks.

The hares get their name from their enormous hind feet which serve as snowshoes to keep their owner from sinking into the soft snow. I think it's pretty likely that people copied the hares when the first human snowshoes were invented. In typical rabbit family fashion, hares hop with both hind feet, and the hind feet actually land ahead of the front feet in the somewhat heart-shaped track.

Snowshoe hares use the same trails over and over again to move between feeding and resting areas. Some of these cross the Boardwalk, either under or over depending on how far above the snow the structure is. I looked underneath at one crossing location and found where a hare had rested. Hares spend their resting time in sheltered locations called forms and it seems at least one hare thought the Boardwalk made an excellent shelter.

All the best to everyone for a prosperous New Year!

Trees of the Boardwalk - Lodgepole Pine 1

2009-12-16T19:28:00.000-08:00

Although the lodgepole pine is the most abundant tree species in the Alberta Foothills, it isn't very common around the Beaver Boardwalk. Partly that's because the local soils are very calcareous and pine prefers more acidic soils. Another likely explanation is the history of fires in the area and how pine reproduces. Some people call the lodgepole pine the phoenix tree. Why? Because lodgepole pine requires fire to assit the reproduction process. Like the mythical phoenix a new pine generation rises from the ashes of parent trees scorched by forest fires.

Pine cones contain the secret. Cones take two growing seasons to mature after tiny yellow pollen grains produced by tan-coloured male flowers fertilize the reddish female flowers. Each summer pine and spruce trees produce huge quantities of pollen blown by the wind to female flowers. The excess pollen coats surfaces and forms a yellow film on puddles, and makes some alergy sufferers miserable.

Mature pine cones remain fixed to the parent tree. Cone scales protecting the precious seeds remain tightly locked by a bond of resin, waiting for a fire. It takes a temperature of 45-60°C to melt the resin and release the seeds. Normally that much heat is only produced by a forest fire, which kills the trees but doesn't completely burn the cones. The seeds fall to a cooling and fertile ash bed on the forest floor, where they germinate in incredible numbers.

Pine seeds aren't easily dispersed by the wind or other agents. In nature, fires must usually kill cone-bearing trees to establish a new generation. If there are no pine trees to kill or fires occur infrequently, other tree species replace pine as dominant species in an area.

Bear Tracks

2009-12-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

It's a pretty fair bet that most local bears have entered their winter dens, but it's still possible to see bear tracks in the forest if one looks carefully. Several aspen trees along the Beaver Boardwalk have old scars in their bark made by black bear claws. Let me qualify that - the marks were probably made by black bears. Young grizzly bears can climb trees, but they don't do it a lot. I wouldn't either if I were a grizzly cub with such a powerful Mom to defend me.

Black bears climb trees for lots of reasons. Getting food and escaping danger are probably the most common activities. The method is pretty straightforward. A bear grabs the side of the tree with it's front paws and their longer claws, jams the shorter claws on the hind feet into the bark, and hitches up the tree front to back. Black bears can go both up and down pretty fast - as fast as or faster than human climbers you see in lumberjack competittions.

Bruin claws easily penetrate the relatively soft and smooth aspen bark. Damaged bark darkens as the tree heals from the injury, leaving a permanent record of the claw marks. So why climb aspens? The smooth bark is fairly slippery when compared to other local tree species, as anyone who trys to shin an aspen could tell you. Of course, people don't have nice sharp claws to assist the process.

Every spring hungry black bears climb a lot of aspen trees. They are after the nutritious reproductive catkins that appear very early in spring greenup when there's not much else for a bear to eat. I once flew over a patch of aspens on an early spring evening and saw 5 black bears up in the treetops feasting on catkins. That aspen patch was the only one in the area. It drew bears like a magnet, but only for a very short period of time that I was fortunate to witness.

Trees of the Boardwalk - Tamarack

2009-12-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

Alert folks have noticed that the interpretive sign describing tree species found in the Beaver Boardwalk area was missing a prominent local species. That's because there was no tamarack close to the trail in the first two years. However the 2009 construction passes by lots of tamarack. The resolution of the original sign was also below standard, so we're redoing the sign and the new version will include Larix laricina.

The tamarack is an oddball tree in one respect. It's a conifer, which means it bears its reproductive structures in cones. But unlike most local conifer species that have evergreen needles, the tamarack needle clusters turn a deep gold in the autumn and join the parade of falling leaves from aspens and poplars.

In our area tamarack usually grows in fens, which are wetlands on organic soils that have water flowing through them. This makes them more nutrient rich than bogs, which usually have stagnant water. The relationship is so strong that tamarack trees are diagnostic - if you see a tamarack you are likely looking at a fen.

The word tamarack comes from an Algonquin word that translates loosely as "wood used for snowshoes". The tough springy wood of this small to medium sized tree is also used for posts and poles because its high resin content provides good decay resistance. The James Bay Cree use tamarack twigs to make goose decoys which are true works of Canadian artisan craft.

A Big Tree

2009-11-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes beavers get pretty ambitious and try felling a really big tree. This isn't always successful, and it's fair to say that most of the larger trees tackled by beavers survive the experience, at least for a period of years. Ultimately the beaver may benefit, especially if wind finishes the job the beaver started.

Most of the bigger trees around Hinton are well within the capabilities of an ambitious beaver lumberjack. This picture shows a big black cottonwood on the floodplain of the Nechako River at Prince George, B.C. The beavers chewed away about 2/3 of the circumference of the tree, which I estimated at about 120 cm in diameter at the point of beaver attack. Eventually the beaver gave up, and the tree survived. The bark has since grown over part of the wound, so this tree has certainly survived a number of high wind events. There was an active beaver lodge less than 20 m from this tree. This beaver colony is still waiting for their windfall.

Our Green and Brown Fall

2009-11-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

A normal Hinton fall sees the local aspen and balsam poplar trees in golden glory during the last 2 weeks of September and the first strong wind in early October usually strips the trees bare. 2009 was a very unusual year. First we had a late spring and leaf flush was at least 2 weeks later than usual. Then the summer and early fall was exceptionally warm and dry. By the end of September our deciduous trees were still green and the leaves were still strongly attached. Through October the leaves remained on the trees. Some turned golden but most either turned brown or a lighter shade of green. Eventually they fell, though mostly a month or more past their usual trip to the ground.

So what caused this? Were the trees trying to make up for lost time? Were they stressed by drought? Why did the trees fail to withdraw their chlorophyll from their leaves? Nobody knows for sure, but we certainly missed out on a normal fall. Next year I hope we return to normal. I love the rain of golden leaves and the "yellow brick road" on all the local trails.

Anatomy of a Food Cache

2009-10-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

In Finishing the Food Cache I talked about how beavers arrange their food cache to maximize the space available. Yesterday I got this close up picture of a small food cache made up almost entirely of willow branches. Click on the photo to see the fine branch tips radiating out from the underwater core of the cache.

The beavers anchored the branches butt-first into the mud and the branches are interwoven with each other. A skilled floral arranger couldn't have done a better job!

The second picture shows the small lodge near the food cache. Based on the grass on the lodge and the minimum amount of mud I think this was an older lodge that has been renovated. This colony is probably a pair of young 2 year old beavers that met and bonded this summer and are now getting ready to spend their first winter together. If all goes well this winter they may start raising a family next year.

Happy Creek Forest Fire!

2009-10-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a run on the Happy Creek Trail. A little before 5:00 PM MST I came across a forest fire east of the trail on the east side of the creek. The location is about 1.5 km south of Maxwell Lake. The fire was about 20 m x 20 m and blazing almost to the treetops. Another 10 minutes of running brought me to the Beaver Boardwalk where I borrowed a cell phone and called 911 to report the fire.

Now I'm home and writing this post! The government folks are on their way out to the fire. I don't expect it will do much. It's pretty cool and not much wind. I'll get a picture of the aftermath and post it here in the next several days.

November 16, 2009 update

It turned out the fire I saw was an old cabin that was fully ablaze. The SRD folks went up the next day. They hauled in some fire hoses to soak the site and they cut down some scorched trees. Here's a photo of the aftermath.

The fire started in or around the cabin, which was completely destroyed. Fortunately the weather was cool and the forest was moist, so the fire didn't spread.

Beaver Trails

2009-10-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

Most of the year beavers don't stray too far from the safety of water. All that changes in the fall when they strart putting up their winter food supply. Then it's necessary to travel overland to the groceries. Travelling the same routes each time and dragging back branches forms recognizable trails. Sometimes these are hard to capture in a picture. Yesterday I lucked out and found this trail network highlighted by a light covering of snow - in fact it was snowing when I hit the shutter button.

The second picture shows the overall layout of this beaver colony. The view is looking downstream from a road. I added arrows showing a dam, a bank lodge, and the location of the food cache. Click on the picture for a larger view. The open water in the upstream pond is being kept open by beaver activity, not water flow. Soon the cold will win and this colony will be iced in to just the lower pond, which is maintained by another lower dam not visible in the picture.

The Outdoor Classroom

2009-10-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hexagon in shape, the outdoor classroom commands the best corner on the original phase of the Beaver Boardwalk. The idea here was to provide a larger area for small groups to use. Maybe it's a little small for a full school class, but that doesn't seem to matter. And who might have imagined what innovative uses might occur? I've personally seen yoga, a game of chess, and a watercoulor artist at her easel. Hinton Town Council has held meetings there, and someone told me that it was used once for wedding pictures. And yes, it's used by school groups. That's all great - just the kind of things I had in mind.

There's a story behind the hexagon shape. I thought that shape would be interesting and more efficient for talking to a group. The construction of a hexagon was another matter altogether. Fortunately for me, Mark Schoenberger and some of his kids volunteered just when I was trying to figure out the framing. Mark has a lot of carpentry experience and with his knowledge between the two of us we got the framing done in record time. Not bad considering there was about 6" of water on top of mud and ice at the time, which made for treacherous footing and more than one pratfall by both of us. We finished muddy and triumphant. Another great day building the boardwalk!

The Waterdeck

2009-10-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

When we designed the 3rd phase of the Beaver Boardwalk I wanted to extend a short section into Maxwell Lake and build in seating so people could relax and enjoy nature. Originally I thought it would have to be a floating structure because I thought the lake bottom would be too soft to support posts. But that assumption was wrong, so the waterdeck is supported by pressure-treated posts just like most of the boardwalk is.

So for those who didn't notice, a little secret. I didn't want the waterdeck to be a great height above the water (remember my "close to nature" desire above). Turns out that I should have been a little more careful with my estimation. When spring came and the lake level began to rise it was pretty obvious the new waterdeck was soon going to be the underwaterdeck. There was nothing to do but admit error and raise the deck, which ended up being an enjoyable Saturday's work. I unscrewed everything and raised the whole structure by the width of a 2 x 8, which turned out to be just about right.

The extra benefit to that beautiful day was the chance to talk with a couple from Austria and a family from England who were enjoying the boardwalk and wanted to know what I was doing. They were very interested in natural history and I enjoyed chatting with them.

By the way, it's called the waterdeck because of a great suggestion by Beth MacCallum. She didn't think we should call it a wharf or a dock because we didn't want to encourage watercraft use of Maxwell Lake. Voila - the waterdeck!

Finishing the Food Cache

2009-10-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

Warmer weather in the past week has opened up most of Maxwell Lake again, and the beaver colony is really working hard to get their lodge and food cache in top shape for the winter. I've given them a full pickup load of aspen each of the last 3 evenings. Normally it takes them 2-3 days to float that much aspen down to the lodge but lately they've been topping thier own accomplishments. Their rate of food removal has increased to a pickup load a day. All of the 11 beavers help build the food cache but the kits can't take larger branches - only the adults can handle those.

So besides the incredible work capacity of these amazing animals there's another marvel. How do they manage to cram 24 pickup loads of aspen branches into a compact pile that seems to take up no more room on the surface than a single pickup load of loose branches? Of course 11 beavers working so hard must need a lot of food, so it's not all in the winter food pile. But a lot of it is. Someday I want to go snorkeling around one of these food caches in the late fall. I'll bet there's an interesting sight to see.

By the way, I've been giving the beavers some pretty large logs just to see what they can handle. I don't know if they might cut some of these into smaller pieces or take them as they are, but logs of 8" diameter and about 8' long have disappeared. That's a pretty fair weight for me to lift, and I'm over 200 lbs. Even considering the log is floating in the water, for a 45 lb beaver to wrestle it with no problem demonstrates awesome strength.

Lake Tower

2009-10-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

The 2nd observation tower was built in spring 2009 at the east end of Maxwell Lake as part of the 3rd and final constuction phase of the Beaver Boardwalk. This lake tower has two stories, with a separate section of boardwalk accessing the ground floor and an elevated ramp to the upper floor. The ramp ended up being considerably longer than planned to keep it on Town of Hinton property and still support wheelchair access. An unintended benefit turned out to be the birding in the willow canopy along the ramp. There were great views of many small birds such as this family of yellow warblers (photograph by Paul Higgins) that are often very difficult to see in the dense shrubbery.

So why two levels? Like the pond tower, the upper floor on the lake tower is for nature observation. The ground floor (actually it's the water level floor) is also for use by skaters in the winter. Skaters will have a place to sit and put on their skates or get out of the wind, and somewhere to stash their gear.

A few people have asked me why you can't get from the upper floor to the lower floor without going the long way around. I did think about putting in stairs (and I had a dream about a fireman's pole, which would have been fun!) but I abandoned those ideas pretty quickly. I couldn't see any way to connect the two floors without creating a safety issue. Wood stairs in the winter covered in snow aren't my idea of a safe undertaking. Take the time to visit each level - you won't be disappointed.

Lumberjack Beavers

2009-10-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

There's one drawback to providing so many pickup loads of aspen branches to the beavers each fall. Because they don't cut their own trees, nobody gets to see the results of their normal behaviour. Fortunately all one has to do is hike the Happy Creek Trail to see one of the active colonies upstream in action. This photo taken this afternoon shows a large aspen that the beavers have been working on. We counted more than a dozen large trees that were either felled or showing evidence of serious gnawing.

The second photo shows a large lodgepole pine cut about half through. Beavers don't normally cut conifer trees because they prefer deciduous species like aspen, balsam poplar, paper birch, and willows. In fact, cutting conifers might indicate not enough preferred food. Most of the aspen close to the upper Happy Creek ponds has long since been cut. Beavers will travel further from water, but this increases the risk they will be killed by a predator. There may be another reason to cut conifers though. I've noticed over the years that sometimes conifers and other non-preferred species like alder are placed on top of the food cache. This weighs down the preferred species that are stuffed underneath. When the pond freezes the ice isolates the capping and keeps the good stuff available below.

Beaver Lodge Armour

2009-10-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

In the last week or so the beavers have plastered a thick coat of fresh mud on their lodge. The frozen mud will provide an impenetrable barrier to protect the beaver family during the winter. It would be pretty hard for a wolf or a late-hibernating bear to break through. More importantly, the mud seals air leaks and provides extra insulation so the body heat of the beavers can keep their lodge warm. OK, warm is a relative term. The recorded temperature inside one lodge in the depth of winter was 0.8-1.0 °C, or just about the same temperature as the water beneath the ice. Compared to outside though, which might be -30 °C or colder, it's a tropical resort. The beavers always leave a small area at the top of the lodge as a breathing hole. On a cold winter day one can see the warm air rising up through the hole, indicating all is well with the beavers below.

Here's the process. A beaver dives to the pond bottom and scoops up a big dollop between it's front legs, chest, and chin. Then it walks up the lodge on it's hind legs using the tail as a brace and balance. At the chosen spot the beaver slaps the load down and smooths it out with it's front paws. Then it's back to the pond, this time on all fours, to get another load. In this photo the wet line on the right side of the lodge is the path recently followed by a wet beaver.

In their book Wild Alberta at the Crossroads Marian and Robin White have a great picture of a beaver carrying mud.

Hooded Merganser Visit

2009-10-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

This evening a male hooded merganser visited the beaver pond. He decided to preen on the food cache located beside the beaver lodge. I couldn't get a sharp photo and this one is the best of a blurry lot. Hoodies are pretty uncommon in the Hinton area and we usually only see them during spring and fall migration. Our area is near the northern limit of their Alberta distribution.

This second-smallest member of the merganser tribe feeds on small fish. By now he's probably full of brook sticklebacks from the pond. Hooded mergansers nest in tree cavities located near small woodland ponds. There are about a dozen pileated woodpecker cavities in the area, which would make good nesting sites. We also will be putting up nest boxes this winter. Wouldn't it be great to someday see a brood of hooded mergansers on Maxwell Lake?

There's a postscript to this story. When we came by 2 hours later there were 3 beavers around the lodge, and one youngster was curious about the stranger fishing beside the food cache. It followed the somewhat distraught duck around until he decided to escape by climbing out onto the food cache.

Berry Cold Birds

2009-10-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

The interesting story this week is the many birds that got caught by the unseasonably cold and snowy weather we're "experiencing". The last laggards of the bird species known as short-distance migrants were still here when the Arctic blast arrived. Short-distance migrants don't head for Florida or more southern climes. They just go as far as they need to, which is why the greater Vancouver area (for example) has a lot of robins in the winter.

Now the stragglers are surviving on mountain ash berries, crabapples, apples, and the berries of the May bush. Most of them will quickly move on if the weather warms up as it's supposed to do in the next several days.

Rocky Morin took this "frozen moment" photo of a male American robin about to swallow a mountain ash berry. Other species spied in the past few days at the mountain ash U-pick are varied thrush, hermit thrush, and Bohemian waxwing.

Witch's Butter

2009-10-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

Halloween is coming soon, so this picture I took of the witch's butter fungus on a dead pine log near the Beaver Boardwalk seems like a fitting subject. Apparently this jelly fungus, probably Dacrymyces palmatus, got it's common name because if it appears on decaying wood at your house you are supposedly under a witch's spell. Witch's butter is actually a parasite of other wood-decaying fungi and gets no help from supernatural sources, but it does appear very suddenly after fall rains, as if by magic.

Most of the jelly fungi are reported to be edible, but I've never tried this one and I wouldn't recommend it or any other fungus unless an expert is involved in identification and assurance. Mushrooms and other fungi don't have much nutrition value, so never take a risk unless you are sure. You won't starve without them, and you could get very ill or even dead with them.

A Beaver Family Who's Who

2009-10-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

A question I hear often is "How many beavers are there?' Before I answer that let's look at beaver social structure, which is built around a family, also called a colony. A colony consists of an adult male and female plus their offspring from the past 2 years. When young beavers reach their second birthday they leave the parent colony and wander far and wide seeking a mate and a place to set up their own colony.

Back at the home colony, the adult female produces a new litter of usually 3-4 beaver kits every year. The number of kits depends on the body condition and age of the adult female. If she is young or in poor condition fewer or no kits will be born. I know the Maxwell Lake beaver colony had at least 4 kits in both 2008 and 2009 because I saw 4 kits at one time in both years.

The next consideration is the fact that beavers are very territorial. All members of the colony defend their territory against any strange beaver, so all beavers seen in Maxwell Lake and upstream and downstream along Happy Creek for a few hundred meters are members of the Maxwell Lake colony. There are several other colonies further up Happy Creek above the powerline crossing .

Now we have all the pieces to answer the question. Assuming all the kits survived, there are at least 10 beavers in the Maxwell Lake colony. I've personally seen 7 at once in 2009. There could be more than 10, but that's my best estimate.

Update October 20, 2009 This evening I saw 5 kits at the same time, so I'm upping my estimate to 11 beavers for this year: 5 kits, 4 yearlings, and 2 adults.

The best time of year to count beavers is from June-August after the kits are born and are active around the lodge. That's when the size difference between the adults, yearlings, and kits is most pronounced and a minimum count of each category is most reliable. Dave Conlin took a great photograph of a Saskatchewan beaver family with 8 members. Check it out and make your own estimate for the Maxwell Lake beaver colony in 2010!

Maxwell Lake on a Snowy October Day

2009-10-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

The first photo was taken this afternoon just after I gave the beavers yet another load of aspen branches. I've lost count but I think that's number 16 for this year. I marvel at how they tow off all those branches and pack them into a compact food cache pile at their lodge. This evening there were 3 beavers there waiting, and even me tossing the branches into the lake didn't dissuade them.

One big beaver couldn't wait. A few seconds after the lake photo was taken, it dragged a good sized branch down to the lake (second photo) and towed it off. Free food is great, but a busy beaver doesn't wait if the load is a little late. The instinct to store food is very strong. The colony members will keep storing food until the lake freezes over and they are locked into their winter routine by a shell of impenetrable ice.

Do Beavers Eat Wood?

2009-10-08T19:50:00.000-07:00

Trick question - it depends on what your definition of wood is. Let's take an aspen branch for example. The beavers absolutely love the leaves, small twigs, and bark. But as soon as the twigs get to the diameter of a baby pinky finger the beaver starts to peel the bark off, leaving the white twig behind, as shown in the 2nd photo. So the answer is more or less no, they don't eat wood. This makes sense when one looks at what food value wood has to a beaver. The wood is mostly indigestible cellulose bound together with lignin. Great fare if you're a termite, but not so much if you're a beaver who has trouble digesting cellulose.

Are the leaves, twigs, and bark much better? Well yes they are. They contain most of the nutrients in the aspen branch and there is much less cellulose. Probably they taste better too, at least to a beaver. A beaver's stomach has lots of bacteria that help to digest their food but even so it's a tough job to digest coarse plant material. The first time through the digestive system produces a soft pellet which the beaver eats. A second digestion pass extracts more nutrients before the final pellet is produced.

Happy Creek Trail

2009-10-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

The Beaver Boardwalk is located where Happy Creek and Maxwell Lake come together. The Happy Creek Trail was built by West Fraser about 15 years ago. It starts on either side of Happy Creek off the gravel Town of Hinton Trail near the Pond Tower, loops upstream over 3 km along a series of beaver ponds, crosses the creek on a footbridge, and returns downstream. The Happy Creek Trail is well used by walkers, runners, and mountain bikers.

Working with West Fraser, the Hinton Mountain Bike Association helps to maintain the trail and signs. For single-track bike enthusiasts it's a challenging trail. I'm told only a few local expert bikers are able to ride the entire trail without getting off their bike. Personally I love to run it. There are lots of ups and downs, roots to trip over (which keeps me on my toes - most of the time), and a micro-wilderness experience on the outskirts of Hinton. Combine that with at least 3 active beaver colonies and the dams and ponds they maintain and you can't beat it.

Mallard reflection

2009-10-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

Every visit to the Beaver Boardwalk is a chance to see a special moment in nature. Last week I spent an enjoyable 15 minutes watching this mallard hen preening on a log. Although I was only 10 m away she clearly thought keeping her plumage in good shape was more important than worrying about me.

I snapped a series of photographs and took a couple of short videos. Although it's not as sharp as I'd like, this photo showing her reflection in the cold pond water was most pleasing to my eye.

Grand Opening Summary

2009-10-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

On a warm September 15, 2009 we celebrated completion of the Beaver Boardwalk after 3 years of dedicated effort by a lot of folks. The kick-off was at the Reimer Drive trailhead where the partners congratulated all who contributed funds, time, and support to make the project a reality. We also announced the winners of the children's colouring contest (more about that in another post) and Beth MacCallum and I led a walking tour of the new sections.

After the tour I gave a talk on beavers at the Hinton Library attended by about 50 people. Then the day was topped off by several dozen people watching the beavers munching on fresh aspen at Maxwell Lake. At one point I counted 42 people there, and all the while up to 6 beavers were tucking into supper. The photo shows the watchers - the beavers are over the bank in the centre right.

Beaver Feeding Time

2009-09-19T22:01:00.001-07:00

The fourth annual beaver feeding program got underway on August 23 and will run until about the middle of October. As I write this post 8 pickup loads of aspen branches have been cut along roadsides where they aren't wanted, trucked to Maxwell Lake, and dumped into the lake at the picnic tables by the east end of the Maxwell Lake Apartments. The beavers take over from there, feasting and hauling away the branches to build their winter food cache beside their lodge west of the lake.

Why do this? Well, it's fun! The beavers are used to humans and feed on the leaves, twigs, and bark while people are standing a few meters away. But more importantly, supplementing their food supply reduces damage to deciduous trees around the lake and ensures the Maxwell beaver colony will continue to live in the area. Beavers aren't great conservationists - they often exhaust accessible winter food supplies over a period of several years and then have to move on. Either that or they have to travel further from water and increase risk of predation by a hungry wolf or bear.

I give the beavers another pickup load every 2-3 days. Come out at dusk for the best chance of viewing. Hope to see you there!

Thinning the Thistles

2009-09-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

The Canada thistle is an attractive plant - lush green foliage and purple flowers. But it's invasive and very hard to control once it's established. Unfortunately thistle got a foothold several years ago along the beaver dam and the perennial plants were increasing. New shoots come up from the underground roots each spring.

Pulling the plants just makes the roots put up more shoots, so Rocky Morin, Beth MacCallum, and I spent several hours clipping the plants just as they started to flower. The idea is to let the plants put energy into growth and then remove the above-ground parts before they can seed or send energy back to the roots. In theory over several years that will do them in, and at the very least it gives other plants a chance. We took away two pickup loads this year. I sincerely hope it will be less next summer! Thanks Rocky and Beth for your help.

Pond Tower

2009-08-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

I'm going to include pictures of some of the Beaver Boardwalk features in a series of blog posts. The first feature is the observation tower overlooking the main beaver pond, built in spring 2008. It was an instant hit with visitors. Lucky or patient folks were often rewarded with a bird's eye view of the beavers below them. Here's two examples from my personal observations:

Last June an adult beaver cut a willow branch and proceeded to eat the leaves, bark, and tender twigs right below the tower. In typical beaver fashion, it left a small uneaten portion for the next family member. Sure enough, within 10 minutes after the first beaver left another came to finish the meal. Then it went off to find a main course of its own.

Last September, two beavers spent more than an hour diving to the bottom and gathering armloads of mud to repair and armour their lodge for the winter. The beavers waddle up the lodge on their hind feet to plaster their load of mud. Always a breathing hole is left un-mudded near the top of the lodge. I'm sure the beavers must be able to sense the location of the hole, perhaps by smelling or feeling the warm air coming up from below.

The pond tower is a great place to spend some quality time. Take a pair of binoculars and some patience and you will soon be rewarded with amazing glimpses into the lives of the wildlife of the Beaver Boardwalk.

Maxwell Lake Ducklings

2009-08-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

Good news! Last winter's break in the beaver dam that lowered Maxwell Lake about 50 cm and the very cool spring including a significant snowfall in early May didn't affect waterfowl reproduction in 2009. Right on cue in early July two ring-necked duck hens appeared with broods of ducklings. One hen had 6 little ones and the other had 3. A few weeks later two mallard hens also showed up with ducklings in tow. One mallard hen had 5 ducklings and the other had 4. The mallard ducklings were already fairly large when first seen, so they could have come down Happy Creek from the beaver ponds upstream.

Four broods of young ducks is about normal for Maxwell Lake, and ring-necked ducks and mallards are the species that usually nest there. Buffleheads are fairly common spring visitors, so in an effort to encourage these cavity-nesters to stay and raise a family I'm going to put up several nest boxes this fall. Other cavity nesting ducks such as goldeneyes might also use the boxes, and many other species will find them useful. More about those in a future post.

Grand opening September 15

2009-07-08T21:44:00.001-07:00

Book your calendars for Tuesday September 15 and join us to celebrate the completion of the Beaver Boardwalk! Plans are still being developed, but here's what we have so far. The first 3 activities will be at the Reimer Drive boardwalk access at the east end of Maxwell Lake, starting in late afternoon.

Colouring contest winners
Official ribbon cutting
BBQ
Beavers - slideshow at the Hinton Library
Dusk viewing of beaver feeding at Maxwell Lake

This is a community event that is open to all. Watch for further details coming over the next few months.

4 new signs coming soon

2009-07-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Work has begun on 4 new interpretive signs for the Beaver Boardwalk. Two of the signs will incorporate art from the children's art contest that recently concluded. The 1st will feature flowers of the boardwalk and the 2nd will look at larger mammals - the coyote and the white-tailed deer.

The other 2 signs will highlight waterfowl and owls of the area.

Speaking of owls, recent sightings of barred owl and great gray owl have excited birders. Other owl species recorded in the area are saw-whet owl, boreal owl, and northern pygmyowl. These last 3 species are very small and nest in old woodpecker cavities. We don't yet have a confirmed record for great horned owl, but it's likely this large owl frequents the area as well.

Construction completed

2009-05-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday May 26 was a great day. Rocky Morin finished the last remaining section of boardwalk construction south of Maxwell Lake. There are still some new signs and metal brackets on the lake tower to come, but the boardwalk itself is complete. Thanks to Rocky and all the other volunteers this year we built the most ambitious of the 3 phases on budget and ahead of schedule.

Overall we now have 3 km of continuous boardwalk to enjoy, with main access from either the Sutherland Avenue or Reimer Drive trailheads. This completes the Beaver Boardwalk project. There are no plans to expand in the future.

If you haven't already checked out the new sections please give the boardwalk a visit. I'm sure you will be pleased.

Raising the Waterdeck

2009-05-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

OK bad pun, but there was no way to call if a roof. The beaver dam at the west end of Maxwell Lake broke last winter, draining the pond. And because the dam contols the level of Maxwell Lake, the lake dropped by more than 2 feet. When we installed the new wharf we had to estimate how much the water would come up when the beavers repaired their dam. I underestimated by about 4 inches.

Last Saturday the lake was back up to within a few inches of the wharf boards and waves were already slopping onto the deck. So I spent a day removing the deck, adding another layer of 2 x 8 joists, and then replacing the deck. Now we have several inches of freeboard.

I've had people ask what would happen if the beavers build their dam higher. They aren't likely to do that because they would flood their own home inside the lodge, which is only a few inches above the water. If the beavers decide to renovate there is a safety valve at the east end of Maxwell Lake. When the beaver dam is full the excess water flows both over the dam and out the east end of the lake toward the Hardisty Creek watershed. So even if the beavers raised the dam the water level wouldn't go higher. They wouldn't dam the east end of the lake because the water isn't flowing noisily. Beavers build dams in response to the sound of running water. No noise, no dam.

Fly-catching warblers

2009-05-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday May 20 I walked the Maxwell Lake portion of the boardwalk just after lunch. The 25 cm of snow we received on Monday was still melting, and a lot of birds were taking advantage of the bare areas around the lake. The highlight was dozens of yellow-rumped warblers (maybe as many as 150 in all) along the lakeshore all around the lake. The warblers were fly-catching and gleaning for adult chironomids.

I watched warblers fly under the decking on the boardwalk to pick off chironomids clinging to the stringers. The birds were very tame and allowed me to approach within a few meters. Later that day I found a dead male yellow-rumped warbler that didn't survive the storm. Perhaps that's why the birds were so tame - they were likely desperate to find food and the chironomid hatch must have seemed like a feast to them after days of snow and cold.

Construction is almost done

2009-05-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since my first post. A lot has happened and we have been very busy indeed. Most of the 3rd and final phase of the beaver boardwalk has been completed. About 100 m of decking on the connector south of Maxwell Lake remains to be fastened down. Add curbing and the bulk of the construction will be done, hopefully by the end of this weekend. Special thanks to
Rocky Morin who once again took care of the lion's share of the construction.

Celebration! But the work isn't all done yet. I underestimated how much the water level dropped in Maxwell Lake last winter when the beaver dam broke. Now the new goose nesting platform is underwater. Good thing the geese decided to nest elsewhere this year. Do you think they may have known something? Raising that will have to wait for the winter.

And we're down to about 3" of freeboard on the new wharf. So this weekend we're going to unscrew the decking and add another layer of stringers to raise the wharf about 7". That should keep the wharf higher than the lake will likely rise.

Where's Winter?

2008-12-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I walked across the 3" of ice on Maxwell Lake to check out the route for the 2009 Beaver Boardwalk expansion. It will connect the short boardwalk at the east end of the lake with the main boardwalk complex at the west end via a wetland corridor south of the lake.

Hinton gets lots of Chinooks. The air temperatre was +10 C and the wind was strong from the west. In places water ponded on top of the ice, and ravens stunted and gyrated in the gales. There's no snow and there wasn't much surface moisture before the ground froze.

The lake surface is gritty with wind-borne dust from Brule Lake west of Hinton. Every winter the winds deposit a little more dust ground from the limestone peaks by the forces of nature. As a result, the soil around Hinton is very calcareous on the surface. Plants that like low pH soil and can take the winter chinooks tough it out in the short growing season. You have to be really dedicated to produce a garden in Hinton.

So when will winter arrive in force? The forecast says flurries over the next several days. Maybe we will have a white December after all.

Welcome to the Boardwalk Blog!

2008-12-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

Welcome! You probably found this blog from the Beaver Boardwalk website at BeaverBoardwalk.ca. The Beaver Boardwalk is a community project located in Hinton, Alberta, Canada. Over the last three years we've built a 3.0 km wood boardwalk over wetlands in the Maxwell Lake area. In this blog I'll provide all kinds of posts about the Boardwalk and related subjects, especially those related to nature appreciation and education.

First, a little about me. I'm a professional biologist who has lived in Hinton for 21 years. I work for Hinton Wood Products as Chief Biologist and Planning Coordinator in the Woodlands Department. My job is to see that the forest managed by the company is managed for multiple values, especially biodiversity and environment. My home is not far from the Beaver Boardwalk, and I go there frequently.