Spring is slowly unfolding. A bit chilly, around 14^C. Walked around the Spit, Tommy Thompson Park, near the Outer Harbour Marina, Unwin Rd.
Beaver House Near the Outer Harbour Marina, Unwin Ave.
"Beaver food is largely inner bark of deciduous or broad-leaved trees. Foremost among these trees which they use for food is the aspen, although the cottonwood and willow are eaten almost as freely. The bark of the birch, alder, maple, box-elder, and a number of other trees is also used. Except in times of dire emergency the beaver will not eat the bark of the pine, spruce, or fir tree. It is fortunate that the trees which the beaver fell and use for food or building purposes are water-loving trees, which not only sprout from both stump and root, but grow with exceeding rapidity. Other lesser foods used are berries, mushrooms, sedge, grass, and the leaves and stalks of a number of plants. In winter dried grass and leaves are sometimes used, and in this season the rootstocks of the pond- lily and the roots of the willow, alder, birch, and other water-loving trees that may be got from the bottom of the pond. Beaver are vegetarians; they do not eat fish or flesh.
Apparently beaver prefer to cut trees that are less than six inches in diameter, and where slender poles abound it is rare for anything to be cut of more than four inches. But it is not uncommon to see trees felled that are from twelve to fifteen inches in diameter. my possession are three beaver - cut stumps each of which has a greater diameter than eighteen inches, the largest being thirty-four inches. The largest beaver-cut stump that I have ever measured was on the Jefferson River in Montana, near the mouth of Pipestone Creek. This was three feet six inches in diameter." In Beaver World by Mills, Enos Abijah, 1913. Houghton Mifflin. https://archive.org/details/inbeaverworld00milluoft/page/10/mode/2up
Mourning Cloack Butterfly.
Tommy Thompson Park.
Cormorants.
Eastern Garter Snake.
Kingfisher.
Long-Tailed Ducks.
Mallard With A Tire.
Northern Azure Butterfly.
Tommy Thompson.
Red-Tailed Hawk.
Red-Tailed Hawk's Nest.
Red-Winged Blackbird.
Scoot Duck.
Song Sparrow.
Swans.
Trees Budding Out.
Tree Swallow.
Tree Swallow Flying.
Trumpeter Swan Fighting With A Canada Goose.