Connecticut Audubon Society

Beavers
By Annie Guion, Director, Connecticut Audubon at Trail Wood

"Among the witch hazels above the swampy valley on the
Old Woods Road, that early October afternoon, Nellie stopped and listened. In the trees below, she thought she heard the calling of rusty blackbirds. In descending to investigate, she made an exciting discovery. The whole lowland, perhaps three acres in extent, was flooded. Where there had been a swamp in the spring, there was a pond in the fall. And it was no ordinary pond. It was a pond produced by the earliest dam-builders in America. How much wilder our wild acres seemed: beavers had come to Trail Wood!"

"It was November - the month of the Beaver Moon - before, in rather unusual circumstances, I caught my first glimpse of one of these wary creatures. Toward the middle of that month a freeze covered the pond with half an inch of ice. About four o’clock in the afternoon, on the seventeenth, I had finished nailing up signs on trees, warning that the beavers were protected. I was standing not far from the edge of the pond opposite the lodge. Like a rifle shot, a sudden explosive crack came from that direction. A moment of silence followed. Then a second crack. Out on the pond, no more than ten paces from where I stood, the ice was heaving up and down. Long white lines of fracture radiated away. Then the ice burst upward. Fragments shot into the air and skidded over the frozen pond. Bubbles cascaded up through the water and the dark dripping head and back of a beaver appeared in the opening. Standing in a shallow place in the pond, it had heaved rhythmically upward with its back until the ice gave way."

Thus begins the chapter, "Beavers in the Moonlight" written by Edwin Way Teale in A Naturalist Buys An Old Farm. And if you are lucky enough to visit Trail Wood, one of Connecticut Audubon’s sanctuaries in East Hampton, you can visit the pond that appeared before Edwin and Nellie Teale’s eyes. You probably won’t see the beavers that built the pond, as the average life span of a beaver is 11 years in the wild, (up to 19 in captivity), but the beavers that currently occupy the pond are very likely descendants of the original pioneers that Edwin Teale describes in his book. Ct Audubon: Beaver Photo

Beavers are unique among our New England mammals in their ability to significantly alter the landscape. Young beavers are kicked out of their homes when they reach the age of two. Thus begins their search for a mate and a new habitat. In the case of the Trail Wood beavers, they stumbled upon a red maple swamp, bordered by an old stone wall. It probably didn’t take the beavers long to build the 125 foot dam, utilizing the wall as support, converting the swamp into a pond. Why do they go to such trouble?

If you’ve ever seen a beaver, or even just a picture of a beaver, you may have noticed that they are bulky animals, short and round with stubby legs. Not very efficient movers on land, but webbed feet and the ability to stay under water for up to 15 minutes make them excellent swimmers. So a pond environment provides safety from predators. Beavers build their stick lodges on or near the water, with underwater entrances, and they rarely roam more than about 400 feet from the pond in search of food, mostly the inner bark of trees, supplemented by other vegetation.

As they fell trees for food, housing and dam construction, the beavers create an opening in the forest surrounding the pond. Beavers also gnaw trees simply to trim their constantly growing incisors, (beavers are the largest rodent found in North America), thus creating the dead snags you often see on the fringes of a beaver pond.

Once a beaver colony uses up its food supply, it will move to a new area, but the alteration the beavers began will continue. Streams flowing in to the pond will deposit silt and sand and the pond will slowly fill in, becoming a marsh and then a wet meadow. There will be an open space where once there were trees and a stream.

Edwin Way Teale, A Naturalist Buys An Old Farm

The edge between forest and wet meadow is critical habitat, as is the open meadow itself, and the new diversity of habitats will support a new variety of species. Without a return visit from the beavers, trees will eventually seed back in and the site will go back to forest or swamp depending on the level of the water table. Thanks to the industrious beaver, we get a transformation of the landscape that doesn’t require a bulldozer or a hurricane!

When it comes to teaching children about adaptations the beaver is a stellar example. Webbed feet for swimming. Two kinds of fur, one that sheds water and one that insulates. A paddle-shaped, hairless, scaled tail used to slap the water as a warning, as a prop for standing and as a rudder when swimming. Beavers have thin membranes that protect their eyes when swimming, and internal valves that seal off the ears and nose. They can close their mouths and leave their teeth exposed, so that they can eat underwater - an important adaptation in winter, when their food is stored under the ice. They also have scent glands which produce castoreum oil, and a split second toenail on each hind foot which they use to spread the oil for further water-proofing.

The incredible richness and inherent water repellancy of beaver fur led to extensive trapping throughout the 17 and 1800’s. The population was depleted by .... and beavers were considered extirpated from New England. In the....they began a comeback, aided by the efforts of humans who live-trapped them and brought them to local ponds. Now they are a fairly common feature of the New England landscape.

Beavers are crepuscular, which means they are most active at dawn and dusk. They also come out at other times, both day or night, but you’ll increase your chances of seeing a beaver if you head out at twilight or early morning.

During the hottest days of summer, they seem to be more likely to venture out during the day, swimming the pond and cooling off. Resident Naturalist Jeff Weiler has had a Trail Wood beaver come out on the grass a few feet away from where he sat on the bank and unconcernedly groom himself. Herself? Only close inspection reveals the gender of a beaver.

There are two Connecticut Audubon sanctuaries in the northeast corner of Connecticut that are home to active beaver colonies. As mentioned above, a colony exists at Trail Wood. If you come out for a visit, head for the green "Maps and Information" shed to find a map.

The hike to the pond takes about 15 minutes, but leave yourself plenty of time to soak up the beauty of the site when you get there. There are two lodges on the pond, and it’s always fun to guess which one is in use. When fall arrives, the appearance of twigs above the water around the lodge signal the procurement of a food cache- twigs and branches the beavers stick in the mud outside the underwater entrance. At that point, it is clear which lodge will be used during the winter. On cold days when the pond is safely iced over, a trip out to the lodge will reveal frost from beaver breath on the vent hole of the lodge. Lean a little closer and you’ll get a sense of what the winter lodge smells like!! Beavers have also been known to inhabit the Teale-made pond located just down the hill from the house. The food supply is a little low at that site and the pond is currently un-inhabited by beavers.

The other Connecticut Audubon site in the northeast is Pomfret Farms, located at 220 Day Rd. in Pomfret. The beaver pond is located in the meadow across the street from the barn, and is visible from the road. Both places are open daily from dawn until dusk, and offer lots of other reasons for visiting!

MORE ON THE TEALES
On February 14, 1947, Edwin and Nellie Teale packed up their black buick with suitcases, binoculars, maps, field guides, cameras and record books, and began a journey that lasted long beyond their own lifetimes. That day was the day they drove south to Florida, where they would begin their journey north, following spring’s advance up the east coast.

Four years later, North With The Spring was published, the first of Mr. Teal’s books following the seasons. In 1952, the Teales followed fall and Autumn Across America appeared in 1956. 1957 was summers turn and Journey Into Summer appeared in 1960. Lastly, they followed winters path in 1961-62. Wandering Through Winter was published in 1965, and Edwin Way Teale was presented with a Pultizer Prize, the first such honor awarded to a nature writer.

Mr. Teale was meticulous in his research and eminently readable. He had a lifelong fascination with the study of the seasons, as chronicled in two other books, A Walk Through The Year and Circle of The Seasons. Many of Mr. Teale’s books are out of print, but they can be found in libraries and used book stores. Trail Wood has copies of the season books and of Dune Boy, the story of Mr. Teal’s boyhood in Indiana dune country.

So, the journey continues for anyone who heads to the library, or comes to Trail Wood to buy their own copy of one of these delightful and informative books.