The dry spell we’re experiencing this spring may have an upside: it will limit run-ins between man and beaver.
The most notorious city beavers in recent history lived in Jackson Park, where three years ago they gnawed up about 75 trees on Wooded Island, a bird-watching hot spot in the park’s lagoon. Birders raised a ruckus, and in an agreement with the Chicago Park District, a DeKalb wildlife control specialist named Rob Erickson trapped the 13 animals responsible and moved them to an undisclosed location in northern Cook County. “Our policy is to remove them in a humane fashion and then relocate them in a place that can accommodate their eating and damming needs,” Park District spokeswoman Angie Amores explains.
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Some of this may help explain why you’re not likely to see beavers during the day. It’s believed they used to be diurnal but have been forced over the centuries to become nocturnal, according to Peter Busher, an expert at Boston University. “Think about it,” he writes in an E-mail. “Humans have been hunting beavers (to extinction in some cases) in Europe for thousands of years. [They’ve] been hunting and using beavers in North America since they arrived 10,000-20,000 years ago. In many places beavers are not under hunting pressure, yet they maintain the mostly nocturnal way of life. It may be that being nocturnal gives beavers more of an advantage against predation and does not negatively influence their ability to procure food.”
“Well look at that,” says Hey, slipping down a small embankment to find a small uncharted beaver dam on a small creek. The two-foot dam allows a trickle of water to fall two feet. The water behind the dam is pooling into a pond no bigger than a beach ball.
