In "Beaver Pond Wildlife: Part 1 - Early Spring", we began a series of films to document a year's wildlife activity at beaver ponds. Initially, the thought was that a one-hour film would be enough to cover four seasons. But as we spent long days gathering footage over a few years' time, it became apparent that there was going to be more material we wanted to include than could be crammed into a single one-hour film. So, Part 1 covers only early spring. And it has been quite gratifying to see the response: in its first four weeks, it has been viewed on Youtube more than 50,000 times. At that rate, it's on track to quickly be the most popular film we've done. Many positive comments have been posted on Youtube. It's all very encouraging.
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| Beaver working on dam |
So now, we're happy to announce that "Beaver Pond Wildlife: Part 2 - Late Spring" is completed, continuing the chronological flow of wildlife activity. There's so much that could be included in a documentary project about organisms in a pond environment. Not everything can be covered, obviously, and it becomes a challenge to decide what to omit. So we've concentrated on the things that most visitors to a beaver pond have a good chance of seeing for themselves, and some things that aren't so obvious to a casual observer.
Some of the subjects you can expect to see include nesting birds, such as ospreys, great blue herons, bluejays, yellow warblers, redwing blackbirds, and phoebes; mating northern water snakes and snapping turtles; young beavers dispersing and building a dam; dragonfly larvae emerging; a pileated woodpecker feasting on ants; and much more.
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| Northern Water snakes mating |
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| Wood duck eats pond lily seeds |
Our hope is that more people will become aware of the marvels of life that are accessible for viewing at their local beaver ponds.
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| Snapping Turtles mating |
You can view these beaver pond films, and others, at the New England Forests Youtube channel.
We suggest you view them in sequence, beginning with "Beaver Pond Wildlife: Part 1 - Early Spring". To go directly to Part 2, click here, or on the player window below.
