Frogbit vs. Duckweed, Barry beaver, Doe, Butch, #75!

 Things have been hopping in the news! Here is the Gordie Howe Bridge. A wonderful testament to progress, technology, and engineering. This is Howe's grandson, Gord and wife. They are the first ones to drive across the bridge. A grand gesture. They aren't public figures, but appreciated the opportunity. There was much lobbying, $ millions spent in petitions, by the private owners of the nearby Ambassador Bridge. They donated millions to the orange felon. This bridge is a much better, faster, smoother highway to highway drive. 

The bridge is beautiful! CBC.ca

🦫Barry's wetland is filling up. We had 12 mm Tuesday. Barry has lots of water. It is pouring even as I write!

This from the other side of his inlet.

Nov., 2009 Long Lake, in Bala, Muskoka

Our Barry Beaver has vastly different conditions than beavers in lakes and rivers↑.

Point of clarification! Frogbit vs. Duckweed We have both in the wetland! 

It's a busy yard. Cinnamon got himself breakfast. A fat, juicy vole.

Nutmeg took off.

Cinn back at it.

I won't bore you with the whole video, but here is a screenshot of Phoebe who is still in the yard and doing bug clean up!

Butch has been happy eating Serviceberries!

 

 The Cardinals have been busy foraging, as well. 

   

 The doe is foraging in the dawn. 

 

#75 seems to still be around.

Barry Beaver

 Down I went. The latest tree to fall in the July 1st storm is dying. Barry has been whittling away at it. 🦫 

You should see me climbing over the tree trunks to get to the camera! This was me leaving. I suppose it is good exercise.

 

I looked down at the wetland, and could see the invasive European frog bit growing over the open water. I couldn't see any evidence of Barry. 

Frogbit vs. Duckweed We have both in the wetland! 

And then I realized why! He has been here, but the frog bit fills back in around him.

Barry Beaver's Videos

The day before this visit, Barry was in the water and slapped his tail on the water. This day, he was perfectly silent. A bit agitated with me there, but no tail slap. 

Stormy weather, Barry, Fred, and a toad

The news is bad out there. I take comfort from my American blog friends who are suffering as well. Things are tense between the USA and Canadian governments. States want us to put US alcohol back in our stores.  Wab Kinew, Ojibway, and Premier of Manitoba, (NDP), you got to love him: "No CUSMA, no BOOZMA!"

de Adder is a great Canadian artist

OK, back to nature. During the last storm, I noticed the down pipe for the gutter wasn't connected. In between storms I shove it together. Wednesday I screwed the two pieces together after I recharged the drill!

It was draining behind the propane tanks. I noticed something moving. A wee toad eating the bugs. Bless its little heart!

A toad in Bala, Muskoka. 2009

 I hadn't ventured here post-storm. It was bad enough on our walking paths. I circled the pond on the far side, and found more damage. 

The frog pond from up above

The top of the white pine tree snapped off.

I found a bone: hmmm. The critters are pretty good at clean up.

 Barry Beaver has been working. Thanks goodness. He has a mess to clean up. Ignore the date stamp. I don't like standing in a bug cloud resetting the time and date!

Auntie Fred has been out. It's been chilly, and I don't know if they are thinking of hibernating! This is where she hunkered down last winter.

The berries attract the birds. A great sight.

I think they've settled in, dividing the burrows amongst them. 

Barry Beaver

 There has been more action! I moved the trailcam. 

 

You can picture me climbing over this tree trunk to get to the trailcam.

I was trying to figure out the geology of this site. Why would the trees get uprooted like this? I realized that they are sitting on an area with lots of rocks dumped underneath by the glaciers. 

We'll see how he does using the trees. He is a hungry busy beaver.

A little piece of accidental beauty: