British Columbia Beaver Ponds

December 19, 2014

Beavers have flooded the trail, diverting the waters of Stories Creek away from their dam. The western hemlocks in the background seem to be fairly flood-resistant.

I was born and raised on Vancouver Island, off the grey west coast of British Columbia. We seldom got snow and it seldom didn't rain. We called it a temperate rainforest, but it was far from tropical--mild winters and mild summers.

As a student in Florida, I missed the grey skies, wet forests, and short days. It was really made mandatory by my loving parents, but Christmas was always spent back home on the island. My siblings and I would fly up from Florida every December, just to be with family.

It proved to be precarious hiking over this trail-turned-creek. The deer ferns are evergreens that enjoy moist areas. Perhaps this is too moist.

I of course took this opportunity to get outside. My parents lived in a coastal fishing town called Campbell River and it rarely got snow. The forests surrounding the town were dark and wet, full of soggy, decaying wood and draped in mosses. Three colours predominated: brown, green, and grey. The grey sky sandwiched the green of the mosses and evergreens against the reddish-brown soil and tree trunks. I was looking for animal life, of course, but the forest was surprisingly quiet. It was late afternoon, but the sun was already setting somewhere behind the high, grey clouds. It made me feel alone, but not lonely. Rather, it was very peaceful. A quiet tit sound notified me of a thrush's presence. In the summer, it might be true that "birds of a feather flock together" but, in the winter, there is no prejudice. They seem to work together to flush up insects and watch for predators. This thrush was sending an early warning to someone about my presence. After several minutes of listening I could discern some other birds in the trees. Chestnut-backed chickadees, golden-crowned kinglets, varied thrushes, and even a few brown creepers. I walked another hundred meters up the trail and everything became silent again.

One of the Stories Creek beaver ponds as seen from the trail. It is amazing how much nostalgia can be associated with a place like this. Beavers and birds might be the only obvious critters here in December, but as early as January the long toed salamanders will be moving in to breed, superseded by a whole host of others, including northwestern salamanders, rough-skinned newts, red-legged frogs, and Pacific treefrogs.

The trail followed part of Woods Creek before taking an old, overgrown logging road across to Stories Creek. Both creeks were full and rushing from the latest rainfall. Some places on the island can get over three meters (ten feet) of rain a year. Soon, I was skirting the edges of the muddy trail to avoid getting anything past my ankles wet and leaning precariously over the trail to keep my scarf from catching on the wet shrubbery. The reason for the flooded trail had more to do with engineering than the water table. A beaver dam had grown out from one of the ponds and clogged the natural flow of water back to the creek. The trail made a fine spillway. I thanked God for my long legs and jumped over the obstacle.

Another one of the Stories Creek beaver ponds. Dusk had already arrived in the forest, it seemed, by 3pm.

There were several ponds up Stories Creek, all of them beaver-constructed. Originally, small dams and spillways were constructed along the stream to help salmon move and reproduce. It was originally part of the local gulf club's mitigation project but, now, the pressure-treated dams are in a sad state of decay. The club made up for the neglect by periodically smashing out sections of beaver dam. I hardly think that behavior is justified.

Sword ferns blanket the forest floor, under a stand of red alder. The ferns are evergreens and continue to grow tall until the first snowfall, which may never arrive.

As the forest became too dark to see the trail, I headed back toward home. My footsteps were the only sound and it made me uncomfortable. I found myself hurrying along, as if the growing darkness would only tolerate my disturbance for moments longer. Another thought comforts me: Rooibos tea. When I'm huddled by the wood stove, watching the lights on the Christmas tree, I'll have a cup of hot, rooibos tea.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Beaver Pond

One of the pools, created by beavers, up Woods Creek near Campbell River, Vancouver Island on June 20th of 2010.

Update on my First (Little) Big Year:

The first week of my little Big Year is coming to a close. Over the four days, I was able to identify 37 species of birds, which was very disappointing considering only three more species would have tipped me into 40. Oh well. I guess there's improvement pending for the future.
Taking the number for what its worth, however, 37 is a great count for just four days of my first big year, and I'm confident I can get at least two more for the list tomorrow, if the weather is still clear. And that seems to be the ticket. We've had a few beautiful (freezing) sunny days and the birds have been out in droves. It seems that things are really working out for this big year. The weather brings out other wildlife too, and walking along the Oyster River estuary trail, we saw some gorgeous sea lions cruising down the coastline. We also had an unexpected encounter with a group of friends and relatives so, even if I hadn't seen any birds, it would have been worth it.
So here is the list up to date, with habitats. I put the common name first, with the habitat occurrence in parentheses. All species listed have been seen at some point this week, but many of the occurrences are listed from voice identification alone. All were seen between Campbell River and the Comox Valley.
1. Varied thrush (suburban backyard)
2. Dark-eyed junco (suburban backyard, clearcut bush)
3. Chestnut-backed chickadee (suburban backyard, forest trees)
4. Northwestern crow (urban roadside, suburban coastline, forest treetops, ocean mudflats)
5. Glaucous-winged gull (suburban coastline, river estuary, ocean shoreline, urban field, ocean mudflats)
6. Northern flicker (suburban roadside, forest trees)
7. Spotted towhee (suburban backyard, forest bush)
8. Song sparrow (suburban backyard, clearcut bush, forest bush, beach driftwood, suburban roadside, urban roadside)
9. Trumpeter swan (suburban overhead)
10. Bald eagle (suburban backyard, forest treetops, ocean shoreline, ocean mudflats)
11. Fox sparrow (suburban backyard)
12. Pileated woodpecker (forest trees)
13. Common raven (forest treetops)
14. Pacific wren (forest bush, clearcut bush)
15. Golden-crowned kinglet (forest treetops, forest trees, forest bush)
16. Hermit thrush (clearcut bush)
17. American robin (clearcut bush)
18. Varied thrush (forest trees, clearcut bush)
19.  Mallard (river estuary, ocean mudflats)
20. Surf scoter (river estuary, ocean shoreline)
21. Harlequin duck (ocean shoreline)
22. Common goldeneye (river estuary)
23. Bufflehead (river estuary, ocean shoreline)
24. Common merganser (river estuary, ocean shoreline)
25. Canada goose (country field, open ocean)
26. Common loon (ocean shoreline)
27. Great blue heron (ocean shoreline)
28. Hairy woodpecker (forest trees)
29. Eurasian collared-dove (suburban backyard)
30. European starling (urban roadside)
31. House sparrow (suburban backyard)
32. Northern pintail (ocean mudflats)
33. American wigeon (river estuary, ocean mudflats)
34. Green-winged teal (ocean mudflats)
35. Killdeer (ocean mudflats)
36. Black-bellied plover (ocean mudflats)
37. Western sandpiper (ocean mudflats)
So there you have it. All 37 species and the habitats I observed them in. There were some ducks, sandpipers, and woodpeckers I saw as well but, because my identification could not be 100% certain, I had to omit these names. It is very tempting to include a name when you are 99% sure what it is, but such is life. So downy woodpecker and ancient murrelet were not included, among others.
Of course, I would love to describe exactly how many of each I saw, what they were doing, how they interacted with other animals, the kinds of plants that were around, and more, but this is just a weekly post. Maybe check the PROFILES page (click the FIELD NOTES link above) in the far future for a post on a specific bird's biology. That natural world is so amazing! Have a great week and don't forget to get outside.