Barry Beaver update

 It's been a hoot! A little postscript ... he's stolen the Wingscapes trailcam, which is now discontinued. It was on the young tree. The tree is gone! 

Yes, you may laugh. I am almost ready to laugh about it. I should slap myself upside the head. What was I thinking? I thought he'd go for the trees he's already taken down. Oh my. 

It was a dear little camera. They are making ones that are embedded in a bird feeder these days. There are some 'upgrades' that simply aren't needed!

There were two saplings here. Two trailcams. One camera is on a metal post. The other was on the sapling. He took the tree, camera and all. I can't find it. The other one failed to capture the action. It really is old and needs replacement. 

 

This was the best little camera, meant for birding, but it captured mice friends on the deck, and Labbit! I bet it's in the wetland. The lodge is on the right, with open water where he comes and goes.

With the recent freeze up, I can see where he has been active. 

In the meantime, this tree has tipped over. 

You can see in the close up some blood on the wood↑. He's been whittling away at it, working hard.

I'm thinking maybe we should have someone come in with a chain saw and put this tree on the ground. 

The wood shed and Fred Groundhog sleep. I stuck a piece of wood down the hole, as Fred is sleeping for winter, and I didn't want to trip on the hole when coming or going.

The coyotes have been walking around the lodge on the ice. Their tracks led along the driveway, and down the hill to check Barry out. I followed the tracks around the backyard. In the night and the dark, of course. I'll have to read more about them. Britannica says they are primarily nocturnal, but I haven't captured video except in the day. 

Labbit has appeared on the path down to the wetland, where Barry comes and goes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

🎥 I've been watching The English Neighborhood. AKA Operacioón Barrio Engles. It's 1941, and takes place in Huelva, Spain. The Brits have a factory to harvest minerals necessary for the war effort, the Nazis are trying to take control of the mine. Armed police patrol, and arrest those against the regime. Does this sound familiar? It has subtitles, with some English, Spanish and German are translated. 

📹 Lots of Critters

It's been cold and snowy. Perfect time to watch curling on TV! Canada was choosing its Olympics teams. I quite liked the arrangement here!

Nov. 29 the sun came out. My orchid has lost three bloom branches. Nutmeg didn't care. She was cold, looking between me and Joseph Brian to be let in. 

With the unexpected action of Barry Beaver, I have neglected the other regulars. This is a buck on Nov. 13th, spreading his scent at the scrape.

Coyote

   

 There are two does hanging around. What I find interesting is that the coyotes trot up and down the driveway. The deer trod carefully on the grass beside the asphalt.

   

 This looks like the fawn that hangs with the does. She did a selfie, you can hear her sniff for food, just in case! 

   

 The fawn was into the garden Nov. 20. I'd forgotten this! You can hear the blue jays yelling at her. 

 

Anyway, the week begins. Lets have a good one. It's -8 ℃. Garbage is out and it is time for coffee!

Busy Barry Beaver

🦫 Barry Beaver First spotted the felled trees in Sept! 

"I'm going down to visit Barry!" This is a new phrase for me. 

The path down to the wetland Barry has taken over is between the pine tree on the left and the shed. I stand and expect trees to fall in the distance!

I just wish Barry could help with this dead birch tree! It's been leaning since the hurricane a few years ago.

This is what I noticed in November... He's taken about 20 trees down, and left 2 or 3 widow makers. 

 

 I saw him (her?) in the pond after I snuck up carefully on the crunchy leaves.

   

 The coyote knows very well Barry is here. I captured video of it climbing the hill where the beaver uses the same path. It looks like it is a difficult uphill climb. I did it yesterday and I can verify that.

  

 The beaver's been up and down. I spliced two videos, as coyote is still checking the area out. The trailcam (actually the bird cam) scared him!

   

 Barry's going up and down quite frequently! Winter approaches... 

 

I have tried to map my find. It is tricky. 

We've lots of trees, 16 acres worth. We'll see what happens. 

Butch Raccoon and the pumpkins

 Critter release <= link

We released about a dozen raccoons mid-October. There have been three of them hanging around together, appearing as a trio on the trailcams. They've been nocturnal since their release, with no sign of them during the day. 

I brought home pumpkins from Miller's Bay Farm down the way.

I set them out in a row. Normally the deer go after the pumpkins. We haven't seen many deer in the garden. Good thing!

You can imagine what I think happened. 

I went to the Crumbly Acres Camera!

We've moved into winter conditions, with the changing light levels and impending winter solstice.

In case you want live action, as Joseph Brian does!

This was their entrance into the picture:

   

 I counted 6! They seem to get along better than other raccoon kits. They spent a lot of time together during rehab.

 

For more critters: Saturday's Critters # 624 visit Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

News and views

 We are enjoying the birds, no bees! 

This was at dusk, and I brightened it some. She froze when we spotted one another.

Winds have been terrible. We are so happy with our new battery. There were power outages galore Thursday, Nov. 26/7. They rose in the morning. 

 

Snow was coming in a great swirl coming from a polar vortex! You can see the arc of the Lake Effect Snow.

With all this cold, someone was camping illegally on Crown Land, with weapons!

🏫 New school-zone signs too large for Ottawa street poles, councillor says

This is the funniest story. Our premier is hell bent on removing bike lanes, and radar speed traps with licence readers. The radar traps sends a ticket to you automatically if you speed. Several of the premier and the councillors in Toronto have been nailed. He calls it a 'cash grab.'  Yet it funded things in the cities.

Our premier is acting as if he is mayor of cities and municipalities. He's a fan of 🇺🇸 Chump, too! 'Nuff said.

The data is very clear:

This signs have to be installed in concrete, and 6' high for safety. Who wants to walk into them?! Toronto has 341 schools, and they sent them 80 signs. 

Then there is the 🇺🇸 US Ambassador to 🇨🇦 Canada. There is a petition to have him removed from the position. He's an arrogant man. Rude, disrespectful, belittling Canada... 

US Ambassador to Canada: But let me tell you, I go around the country and people will say, “Pete, you just don’t understand why we’re so mad about the 51st state.” And it’s kind of like, “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t.

[image or embed]

— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) November 27, 2025 at 1:56 AM

 

Barry Beaver Builds

 We've been following our newest resident! I wouldn't have thought a beaver could survive in the wetland. It was bone dry in summer, and only recently has it filled with November rains. I've set two trailcams on it. I've heard rumours that they've been in Jebbs Creek nearby. A landowner busted its dam back in the day. 

It's left several trees unfinished. There are about 20 down, so far. We've 16 acres, and this is the deepest water on our property, but it isn't a pond. And it isn't deep. 

Not only the coyote, but the deer use this path. This is my birdcam, which isn't too bad. I placed it on a felled tree. There aren't many flat spots.

 

↙Can you see the trailcam on the post? I can't attach it to a tree. They might chop it down!

Realizing there must be a dam, I circled the wetland. 

The wetland has these little baby islands, with trees here and there. You can see the open water in the middle ground where Barry goes back and forth. 

It is an awesome critter!

It kept swimming back and forth, checking to see if I was dangerous. The zoom lens was great, but awkward. I didn't think I could manage a monopod or tripod. 

Not so bad!

I made myself  a map to remind me where the one dam sets. There is another, I think. I was hobbling carefully on my twisted ankle.  

I think it has dug into the mud under the lodge. I hope it gets done. Today, Nov. 27, it's snowing. And windy.

I caught it on land, where it is terribly vulnerable. We anticipate a polar vortex this weekend. It's going to freeze up. We'll see what happens.