Buzzard Swamp Beavers

I tried to walk at Buzzard Swamp near Marienville today but was stopped by a tree that had been felled across the access road by beavers. They had constructed a dam in a clearing some two hundred yards further on, but the tree is too large for beavers to drag that far, so maybe they plan to gnaw individual branches off. Alternatively, perhaps they had intended it for an abandoned dam they had started just off the left side of the road; even beavers can change their minds I suppose. Beavers are a common animal in the Allegheny forest, with ponds coming and going as the rodents die or are trapped for their fur.

Drought Revisited

I returned to the Seneca reservation today where the pond that had dried up during last year's drought was fully replenished by this year's abundant rains. What was once a large pond decades ago is mostly filled in by grass and sediment, and I do not know if there is a feeder stream that would allow the pond to repopulate-at least not in a single year. I did not see any fish near the shoreline, although there may have been some in the deeper water. The late season asters and goldenrod were the predominant flowers, with a few bumblebees and yellow jackets still feeding on them. Along the trail were a red newt and a dead mole and some macintosh? apples. When I researched why an otherwise healthy looking mole would be dead on a gravel path, a likely answer focused on it being forced from its tunnels by rains where it then became vulnerable to predation. A fox or cat or owl would have dropped it after a single bite because apparently moles taste terrible. Another possibility is that, because of its high metabolism and need to frequently eat, when it came out of its tunnels it was unable to reenter for some reason and starved to death. Red newts in autumn travel the forest eating insects and spiders. This red eft stage lasts up to seven years after which they enter an adult aquatic phase and change to a darker color.

Ukraine

After over four years of war the family that Beth and I have been supporting with money and hope since December, 2023 have finally managed to find refuge in Denmark. The Danes have been and will be welcoming of refugees from dangerous areas in Ukraine- like Kyiv where this family is from- until next year. So they fortunately managed to beat that deadline and are in disbelief that they will be able to sleep in peace for the first time since their house was destroyed during the initial 2022 attacks. In the United States the president has falsely degraded immigrants and closed the border to even desparate people like this family. Instead he is threatening Denmark. We are materially the wealthiest nation in the history of the planet but have slipped into moral decay under this administration, which now questions fair elections, prosecutes free speech, praises dictators and ignores rules of law to enrichen themselves. In 2026 the sex abusers of children have the power to pardon themselves, and if that does not disgust people enough to vote them out, you get what you deserve. That is not my America and they do not represent me. So Mr.Trump dangles the scam promise of $5,000 to buy their votes, and many will acquiese because 3rd world antics have so diminished our reputation for freedom and justice that we may never recover.