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Saturday, May 25, 2013
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
New Baby Beaver Born On Alhambra Creek
New Baby Beaver Born On Alhambra Creek
By Greta Mart
Staff Reporter
Tuesday July 03, 2012
Staff Reporter
Tuesday July 03, 2012
Local wildlife lovers are celebrating this week, heralding the arrival of a new addition to the Alhambra Creek beaver family.
A kit, estimated to be roughly six weeks old, was spotted by members of advocacy group Worth-A-Dam over the weekend, and founder Heidi Perryman said in a phone interview Monday that the youngster is now counted as the fifth current member of Martinez's Castor canadensis denizens.
Perryman said she first learned of a rumored beaver baby about a month ago, when an elementary school teacher from Pleasant Hill emailed her with news of a spotting from the Escobar Street bridge in early June. Since then, Worth-A-Dam members and supporters have been monitoring the downtown stretch of Alhambra Creek, hoping to catch sight of the elusive tot.
"First we saw the adults bringing in treats (into a newly-fashioned den, upstream from the Escobar Bridge)," said Perryman. "Then we saw Dad bringing in fennel ... fennel stimulates lactation so we wondered if there was a nursing mom in there."
It's been five years since a family of beavers set up housekeeping in the downtown waterway, sparking a civic uproar over a City Council plan to exterminate the aquatic rodents.
The original matriarch of the family died in 2010, after giving birth to 15 kits. Three of those kits have successfully reached near-adulthood, and in 2011, the patriarch left the creek for about four months. He returned with a suspected new mate, said Perryman, and she believes the newcomer has added another baby to the bunch.
On Sunday night, Perryman, her husband and another Worth-A-Dam member caught sight of the kit three times, and witnessed it attempt to give a forceful tail-slap, a beaverish sign of danger.
"He was clearly trying to be a beaver," said Perryman. The tail slap "took his whole body, he sort of fell into it."
Worth-A-Dam is hosting its fifth annual Beaver Festival on Aug. 4, and Perryman said "it's a great year to celebrate our beaver family."
Source:
New Baby Beaver Born On Alhambra Creek
http://www.martinezgazette.com
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Video - Beavers are Both Cute and a Niusance. WSJ's Joel Millman Reports on Beaver Relocation in Spokane - WSJ.com
Lifestyle
Relocation Program for Nuisance Beavers
The Beaver Solution Team live traps beavers on properties where they are causing damage and relocates them to places where they can chew up trees, build dams and help restore the water supply. WSJ's Joel Millman reports from Spokane.Link:
http://live.wsj.com/video/relocation-program-for-nuisance-beavers/FAD249C7-A28A-42BD-A3F1-C42BC4A1EBFB.html#!FAD249C7-A28A-42BD-A3F1-C42BC4A1EBFB
Video - Beavers are Both Cute and a Niusance. WSJ's Joel Millman Reports on Beaver Relocation in Spokane - WSJ.com
Monday, June 25, 2012
Robbie Burns: To A Mouse
- TO A MOUSE
- ON TURNING HER UP IN HER NEST WITH THE PLOUGH, NOVEMBER, 1785
I EE, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
- Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!
- Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
- Wi' bickering brattle!
- I was be laith to rin an' chase thee,
- Wi' murd'ring pattle!
II - I'm truly sorry man's dominion
- Has broken Nature's social union,
- An' justifies that ill opinion
- Which makes thee startle
- At me, thy poor, earth-born companion
- An' fellow-mortal!
III - I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
- What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
- A daimen-icker in a thrave
- 'S a sma' request;
- I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
- And never miss't!
IV - Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
- Its silly wa's the win's are strewin!
- An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
- O' foggage green!
- An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
- Baith snell an' keen!
V - Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
- An' weary winter comin fast,
- An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
- Thou thought to dwell,
- Till crash! the cruel coulter past
- Out thro' thy cell.
VI - That wee bit heap o' leaves an stibble,
- Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
- Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
- But house or hald,
- To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
- An' cranreuch cauld!
VII - But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
- In proving foresight may be vain:
- The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
- Gang aft a-gley,
- An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
- For promis'd joy!
VIII - Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!
- The present only toucheth thee:
- But och! I backward cast my e'e,
- On prospects drear!
- An' forward, tho' I cannot see,
- I guess an' fear!
Source:
http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/to_a_mouse.html
Robert Burns by Alexander Nasmyth
(By permission of the National Galleries of Scotland)
(By permission of the National Galleries of Scotland)
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
An Ojibwa Legend
Once upon a time there was a beaver that loved to brag about his tail. One day while taking a walk, the beaver stopped to talk to a bird. The beaver said to the bird, "Don't you love my fluffy tail?"
"Why, yes I do little beaver," replied the bird.
"Don't you wish your feathers were as fluffy as my tail? Don't you wish your feathers were as strong as my tail? Don't you wish your feathers were just as beautiful as my tail?" the beaver asked.
"Why do you think so much of your tail, little beaver?" asked the bird. This insulted the beaver and he walked away.
After walking for a while, he stopped for a drink by the river and saw a muskrat. He walked to the muskrat and said, "Hello little muskrat. What do you think about my tail?"
"Well, it is very beautiful and big and fluffy," answered the muskrat. "Is it also a strong tail?"
"Why, yes it is," the beaver answered. "Do you wish you had a tail like mine?"
"I didn't say I wanted a tail like yours. I just asked if it was strong," the muskrat replied with a disgusted voice.
The beaver quickly turned and began walking back to his dam. He was angry because he felt that the animals were being rude to him. He was very upset and decided to take out his frustration by cutting down trees. After cutting down a couple of trees, he came to a very large one. He knew that it would be a great challenge for him. So he went to it. But as he was cutting, he kept thinking about his tail and didn't notice that he was cutting at a bad angle. Before he knew what was happening, the tree began to fall toward him. He jumped to get out of the way, but he didn't jump fast enough, and the huge tree fell on his beautiful tail! He tugged and pulled and finally dug away the earth to free himself. When he finally pulled his tail from under the tree, he was horrified to see that it was flat. The beaver was very sad and started to cry. As he was crying he heard a voice. It was the Creator.
"Why are you crying?" asked the Creator.
"A tree has crushed my beautiful tail," the beaver cried. "Now no one will like me."
The Creator told him that a beaver is not liked for his tail but for his kindness and wisdom. He also told him how to use his flat tail. "Now your tail will help you swim rapidly," the Creator said. "And when you want to signal a message to a friend, all you have to do is slap your tail on the water."
Hearing this made the beaver happy again. When the animals saw his flattened tail they were shocked! But the beaver said, "It's better this way."
From that day on, the beaver never bragged about his tail, and all the animals liked him.
That's how the beaver got his flat tail.
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