It reminds me of when I was a kid growing up in upstate New York. Since we lived in the country near a creek with a beaver dam, we used to love watching those fun-loving beavers!
Tim, I had opened the link to the video and got pulled away for a few moments, just back and had the opportunity to watch it. I like what you, The Average White Boys and The Angry Beavers put together, the collaboration is fantastic. Love the lyric, and I’m amazed with how you put together the video, “Bite ‘Em On The Old Shin Bone”. I hope it has helped to preserve the beaver dams. Thank you for a great start to my Sunday! Wishing you, yours and the beavers well.
Thanks, Mia. The beavers currently have several really nice dams on the clear water ditch that the Conservancy has left in place for much longer than I expected. Since we are in a severe drought, maybe they will leave them alone this year. According to the people I talk to fishing along the clear water ditch, the trout fishing has been exceptionally good this year.
That’s terrific news that the dams are still in place, and the trout fishing is good. Do the dams have anything to do with the fish?
The dams create deeper, slower moving water that attracts a lot of insects and larvae for the fish to feed on. The ducks, flycatchers, kingfishers, heron and other birds, various kinds of fish (they tell me there are bass in the clear ditch as well), amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans, and the mammalian life that flourishes in the bosque all benefit from the ecosystems created by the beavers’ dams.
It certainly sounds like the beaver are a huge benefit to the ensuring the ecosystem of the clear ditch. Odd the conservationists feel a need to remove the dams. Perhaps there’s more to it that I’m unaware of, maybe the beavers built too many dams.
Hi Mia. The clear water ditch is a riverside drain that lowers the water table. Otherwise, our property would be a swamp. We hit water at 6 to 7 feet depending on the time of the year. The clear water ditch is about 8 feet lower than our property. I checked the altitude on the riverbed at the area we call the beach and it showed 5016 feet above sea level. Our property, which is approximately 1000 feet from the Rio Grande is 4998 feet above sea level, which makes our property 18 feet lower the the Rio Grande. The beaver dams theoretically raise the water table which is mostly an issue for the septic systems (all the residential properties in Corrales have private wells and septic systems). The Conservancy officials also argue that ponding water behind beaver dams increase mosquitoes, which is true, but then the fish and other critters eat a lot of the mosquito larva. While there are all kinds of biological benefits to beaver dams, the Conservancy considers them problematic when they are built in drainage ditches.
Thank you, Tim, for a wonderful reply. The beaver dams seem to be a mixed blessing. I can see there would be an increased risk of flooding with dams located in the drainage ditches.
They didn’t look spotty to me 😉 but like the water splash shot.
Off Center & Not Even 
Great post!
It reminds me of when I was a kid growing up in upstate New York. Since we lived in the country near a creek with a beaver dam, we used to love watching those fun-loving beavers!
Thanks, Perry. They are fun-loving critters. They have a real silliness about them.
A terrific series of photos, Tim, love that “beaver spotting” is now a legitimate activity!
Thanks, Mia! Had you seen the video before? I think you might have been on blog sabbatical when I originally posted it.
Tim, I had opened the link to the video and got pulled away for a few moments, just back and had the opportunity to watch it. I like what you, The Average White Boys and The Angry Beavers put together, the collaboration is fantastic. Love the lyric, and I’m amazed with how you put together the video, “Bite ‘Em On The Old Shin Bone”. I hope it has helped to preserve the beaver dams. Thank you for a great start to my Sunday! Wishing you, yours and the beavers well.
Thanks, Mia. The beavers currently have several really nice dams on the clear water ditch that the Conservancy has left in place for much longer than I expected. Since we are in a severe drought, maybe they will leave them alone this year. According to the people I talk to fishing along the clear water ditch, the trout fishing has been exceptionally good this year.
That’s terrific news that the dams are still in place, and the trout fishing is good. Do the dams have anything to do with the fish?
The dams create deeper, slower moving water that attracts a lot of insects and larvae for the fish to feed on. The ducks, flycatchers, kingfishers, heron and other birds, various kinds of fish (they tell me there are bass in the clear ditch as well), amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans, and the mammalian life that flourishes in the bosque all benefit from the ecosystems created by the beavers’ dams.
It certainly sounds like the beaver are a huge benefit to the ensuring the ecosystem of the clear ditch. Odd the conservationists feel a need to remove the dams. Perhaps there’s more to it that I’m unaware of, maybe the beavers built too many dams.
Hi Mia. The clear water ditch is a riverside drain that lowers the water table. Otherwise, our property would be a swamp. We hit water at 6 to 7 feet depending on the time of the year. The clear water ditch is about 8 feet lower than our property. I checked the altitude on the riverbed at the area we call the beach and it showed 5016 feet above sea level. Our property, which is approximately 1000 feet from the Rio Grande is 4998 feet above sea level, which makes our property 18 feet lower the the Rio Grande. The beaver dams theoretically raise the water table which is mostly an issue for the septic systems (all the residential properties in Corrales have private wells and septic systems). The Conservancy officials also argue that ponding water behind beaver dams increase mosquitoes, which is true, but then the fish and other critters eat a lot of the mosquito larva. While there are all kinds of biological benefits to beaver dams, the Conservancy considers them problematic when they are built in drainage ditches.
Thank you, Tim, for a wonderful reply. The beaver dams seem to be a mixed blessing. I can see there would be an increased risk of flooding with dams located in the drainage ditches.
They didn’t look spotty to me 😉 but like the water splash shot.
Spotting beavers is quite spotty in reality. Thanks, Teri!