A recent article in the West Prince Graphic about beavers has given my an opportunity to revisit some recent news about our favorite rodent.

First, the West Prince Graphic article is about large beavers in the Round Pond area, where local residents noted that some beavers caught in the provincial beaver cull were up to 70 pounds in weight.

Beavers packing on pounds in West Prince
Wed, 08/11/2010

They are the largest rodents in Canada and they appear to be even larger in watersheds in West Prince, according to Allan McInnis.

“An ordinary growing beaver is about 40 to 45 pounds. There were a couple caught (recently) in the Round Pond (in central Kildare) that were 60 to 70 pounds,” said Mr McInnis, co-ordinator of the Tignish Watershed Management Group, which boasts as many 15 volunteers during peak periods.

Mr McInnis doesn’t know why the beavers are so large, but he spectulates it’s because they were left alone and didn’t face much trapping pressure.

http://peicanada.com/west_prince_graphic/publication/beavers_packing_pou...

I did some checking and unfortunately, our beavers are not super-sized. Most literature indicates that up 1 m in length and 60-70 lb beaver is not unheard of. During my reading however, I did come across an interesting thing.

Back in the saber-toothed tiger and wholly mammoth days, there were beavers. Cool eh ! Anyway, from the fossil record, they figure beavers of the day were over 3 meters in length and over 350 kg's. Now that is a super-sized beaver !

Weeks after declaring PEI Giant Hogweed free, it now has been confirmed on PEI. The provincial government released an announcement to that effect. It was found in the Cardigan area.

August 9, 2010

GIANT HOGWEED CONFIRMED IN PEI

CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI -- The Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry has confirmed the presence of Giant Hogweed in Prince Edward Island. A small population has been found in the Cardigan area. Giant Hogweed gained local media attention in recent weeks, appearing in both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

“Media reports have resulted in numerous calls to our office from people believing they have seen Giant Hogweed in Prince Edward Island,” said Director of Forests, Fish and Wildlife, Kate MacQuarrie. “Of the many calls received, only one has turned out to be Giant Hogweed.”

http://www.gov.pe.ca/news/index.php3?number=news&dept=&newsnumber=7220&l...

The struggling piping plover will have an espically hard winter this year, as their wintering grounds are along the Florida and gulf coasts. As you know, the BP gulf spill has dumped millions of gallons of oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. As the piping plover spends almost 2/3 of a year in it's wintering areas, it will be an interesting spring to see how many have made it back.

From CBC:

Piping plovers, birds already endangered in the Maritimes, could be in further trouble from the BP oil spill when they migrate south this winter.

While most of the birds spend the winter in eastern Florida, which is expected to escape the impact of the spill, some plovers could end up in areas affected by it.

...

The population of birds on P.E.I. is particularly precarious. In the last few years, 85 to 100 birds have spent the summer on the Island, but this year the trust counted just 67. The plovers are particularly susceptible to oil along the beach.

BP oil spill could affect Maritime plovers
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2010/08/02/pei-plove...

SICK AND DYING BIRDS IN YOUR YARD

Over the past three summers, the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre (CCWHC), Atlantic Region has received numerous reports of sick and dying birds around bird feeders and water baths in people's yards throughout the Maritimes. The primary species affected are purple finch and American goldfinch, and a microscopic parasite, Trichomonas gallinae, causes their illness which is known as trichomoniasis (trichomonosis). It is anticipated that this summer will be no different with widespread mortality of finches occurring throughout the region around people's homes. The CCWHC has a research project focused on tracking this emerging disease problem to better understand its impact on wild bird populations and would like to examine as many of the dead birds as possible. The CCWHC cannot advise or encourage members of the general public to handle dead birds. However, if an interested individual was inclined to collect a specimen, the following procedure should be practiced:

1. Place a plastic bag over hand and pick up the dead bird with hand covered by the plastic bag.
2. Invert the plastic bag over the bird and tie the top of the plastic bag.
3. Wash hands well with warm water and soap.
4. Deliver the dead bird in the bag to the local Department of Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife or Canadian Wildlife Service office where it will be frozen and held for pick up at a later date. On Prince Edward Island (PEI), the specimen can also be directly submitted to the Post Mortem Office at the Atlantic Veterinary College.

PEI Dept of Forestry is reporting no confirmed cases of Giant Hogweed on PEI. It has come into the news recently, where giant hogweed can cause severe skin reactions, including possible blindness if you get it in your eyes.

Crazy stuff, never heard of it, and glad it is not here on the island. I think CBC Halifax did a story of someone growing it in their garden. Doesn't seem to bright of an idea espically after reading the Wikipedia article below.

Here is the Guardian Newspaper article:
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2010-07-23/article-1603136/No-co...

Here is more information on the Giant Hogweed.

Giant Hogweed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_hogweed

A close resembling cousin that does reside on PEI naturally is the Cow Parsnip.

Cow Parsnip:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_Parsnip

Here is the best site I found to easily distinguish between the two.

http://www.gavan.ca/nature/giant-hogweed-vs-cow-parsnip-vs-water-hemlock...

Not a whole lot of information, but the Guardian Newspaper is reporting that the province is going ahead with plans to eliminate beavers that are causing problems for salmon and roads.

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2010-07-09/article-1530632/Provi...

We were walking the Confederation Trail at Morell during a nice day in April. As we were approaching the bridge that crosses the Morell River, I noticed something approach the river bank from the tree line on the other side of the river. As i noticed this creature get closer to the river's edge, it became clear that it was an American Mink.

American Mink: As we approached a bridge which crosses the Morell River, this American Mink appeared on the other bank.

The river was open, but there was still a good amount of ice and snow on the edge. The mink came right to the river's edge and proceeded to approach the bridge crossing, without noticing us. I ran ahead, camera in hand, expecting it to disappear quickly. To my luck, it stopped to take a look into the river, with perhaps thoughts of diving in. It soon continued it's journey under the bridge.

Red Fox
Out for a drive on the Bethel Road, not far from Macphail woods, and came across a red fox working a field for a meal. We stopped and watched her for quite a while and she didn't seem to mind as she kept hunting. She was a very able hunter. We watched her do the pounce thing and be successful. We watched her eat one of her catch and then she left, carrying one in her mouth to take home with.

I've put together some of the better pics into a gallery at the following link.

UBC to exhume blue whale from P.E.I. burial
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
CBC News

A blue whale, buried in western P.E.I. in 1987, is set to become the centrepiece of a new biodiversity centre at the University of British Columbia.

The whale washed ashore near Tignish in 1987 and was buried in Nail Pond. It will be dug up this spring and shipped to Vancouver for display at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Andrew Trites of UBC's marine mammal unit was surprised to find how well preserved the whale was.