The skies were full of fun things to watch this week. In addition to beautiful sunrises and sunsets, the night skies hosted fun things like the Leonid meteor showers and the Beaver Moon partial lunar eclipse.
The biggest news was the Beaver Moon partial lunar eclipse, the longest of its kind in 580 years. Since peak viewing of this “blood moon” was about 4 a.m. on Friday, I didn’t roust myself out of bed to see it. It was cloudy anyway, so I am convincing myself I missed nothing. If I had young kids at home, I probably would have woken them early to see the amazing sight, just as I did years ago, keeping them up for meteor showers, comets and interesting full moons whenever I could.
The Beaver Moon of November may be called such because of colonial observations of beavers storing food and working feverishly before the water froze and made out of the pond travel not just miserable, but impossible. Another theory is that this is when beaver trapping began, when the weather was cold and the ground frozen.
With the farm named after the industrious beaver, I am particularly fond of the awesome beings. We have needed to have trappers come in on occasion to trap out a few of the big rodents when their pond threatened the state and the critters tried to expand their territory. The neighbors whose back yards and lawns belly up to the edge of the pond are not fond of the beaver when the water spills over onto their territory, either. I am not a big fan of killing beaver, mind you, but when they threaten the property and even the lives of those below the dam, it may sometimes be prudent to intervene in the activity.
I have watched some unsuccessful attempts at releasing backed up water from beaver ponds by blasting holes in the dams or ripping apart the dam works with equipment, but the relief is only ever temporary. The industrious beaver are back at the repairs within a day, adding sticks and packing mud to rebuild. They are resilient creatures, and they make me think of humans who bounce back from disasters like floods and fires, rebuilding their homes and their lives after destruction. Every few years, when the food sources are more scarce or there are too many creatures for the size of the pond, the beaver will move out of the location and go looking for another spot to build home.
Their homes are pretty amazing in themselves. The entrance to the beaver houses are under water, and the homes are pretty well insulated from the elements when the critters are inside. A trapper who was working at our pond this year (trying to cull a few otter that were taking over the pond and in a state of overpopulation) said he found something he had never seen before. It appears the enterprising beaver have laid a couple of logs alongside the edge of the pond and tunneled underneath into a hillside to make their house. I went investigating the other day, to find this tunnel network. It was pretty interesting, and you could feel some tunnels under the ground as the ground “gave” a bit as I walked on the edge of the pond.
I did a little research, and it isn’t uncommon for beaver to tunnel into the banks of the pond. Their tunnels are very short and their shelters not much more than a big hole in the soil so they can escape predators and the elements. No beaver were around when I visited the other day, though I didn’t go close to the other side of the pond where their lodge is not built as I didn’t want to disturb them. They have no doubt been very busy the last few weeks, gathering food for the winter and sinking it underwater to stay fresh so they can munch on tender tree bark, twigs and buds through the frozen months.
Amazing, resilient creatures, beavers have my full respect. I may have missed the Beaver Moon, but I did stop by to try to catch a glimpse of a beaver. I forgot to tick-treat my clothes, however, and found myself covered with the creepy creatures when I got home. We are about to enter a very busy season at the farm, so we busy beavers will be as busy as our neighbors have been.
Becky Nelson is co-owner of Beaver Pond Farm in Newport, New Hampshire. You may reach her at [email protected].
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