by Jacqui Birchall
(click images to enlarge)

The Stanley Park Ecology (SPE) workshops constantly open doors to a deeper understanding of all that happens in Stanley Park’s ever-evolving natural landscape.

On September 17, I participated in a SPE workshop titled "Busy Beavers and Brilliant Bats." The fully subscribed, waiting-list-only workshop was conducted at Beaver Lake, in front of the beaver lodge, shortly before sunset. The ever knowledgeable SPE staff member, Julia Taylor, led the discussion.

**evidence of beaver activity at beaver lake.** *(Jacqui Birchall Photo)*

Beaver Lake, a naturally occurring forest lake, is known as Little Lake in the Squamish Language. The lake will eventually fill in and become a forest meadow. This is a natural process, but human activities have contributed to the increase in biomass. Today, much of the water is obliterated by plant life..

Yellow flag irises and water lilies, introduced from Europe in the 1950s, are invasive and, along with the native water lilies, are filling Beaver Lake.

Beaver Lake and Beaver Creek are important as about 50 percent of wildlife rely on wetlands.

The Beaver Lodge is situated on the east side of Beaver Lake, a stroll from the Stanley Park Bus loop. I have included photos to help readers locate it.

Beavers are crepuscular; they are most active at dawn and dusk, but because they have much to do, they can be spotted at other times.

There are many interesting facts about beavers. Beavers are the largest rodents in North America; worldwide, the capybara is the largest rodent. Their two front teeth never stop growing; their bite force is 180 pounds per square inch. They are herbivores, and they are vegan, enjoying the inner parts of trees. Willows, alders and black cottonwood are their favourite trees. Beavers benefit from phloem, the inner bark of trees and xylem, the inner core. The phloem transports sugars from the leaves, xylem transports water and minerals from the roots. Willow trees are very adapted to being eaten by beavers.

**the beaver lodge at beaver lake.** *(Jacqui Birchall Photo)*

Beavers have an excellent sense of smell and great hearing. They become sick in salt water.

The Beaver Lake beavers clear paths through the water lilies. These paths are clearly visible on the attached Google Earth photo. The beavers enjoy the roots of the water lilies.

Did you know that a beaver lodge is nice and dry inside? The entry to the lodge is underwater to protect the beavers. They build dams to protect the entrance to their lodges. Deeper water is better for beavers, as it holds more oxygen for plants. A beaver's damming instinct is strong, and they forage close to their lodges.

There are three to four beavers in Beaver Lake. The young stay around for about a year. It is not possible to sex a beaver by appearance. Beavers live for about ten years. There used to be 100 million beavers in North America.

They are awesome ecosystem engineers, and do not hibernate but move less in colder weather.

**bat boxes at beaver lake.** *(Jacqui Birchall Photo)*

There are many other residents in Beaver Lake. Pacific Tree Frogs. The Green Frogs and American Bull Frogs are invasive. They are all very vocal.

There are several varieties of water birds in the lake. Wood ducks like to hang around with beavers because they enjoy perching on the trees that the beavers cut down. Unlike other ducks, wood ducks have sharp claws which allow them to grip onto tree branches.

If you turn your back on the beaver lodge, immediately to the east you can see bat boxes attached to the trees. SPE has installed these bat boxes to support the six or seven species of bats in Stanley Park. Bats are adaptive. They hang upside down to conserve energy when they take off, and it takes about four weeks for a bat to learn to fly.

Some 500 bats are living in Stanley Park, where each bat consumes about 4,000 insects a day.

Most Stanley Park bats hibernate. They are a protected species in BC, where they suffer from a loss of roosting sites and pesticide use.

WILDLIFE RESCUE ASSOCIATION OF B.C.

Every time a West Ender needs help with an injured bird or animal, the Wildlife Rescue Association of BC is there to help. Do you own a car? Sign up to be a volunteer who picks up and delivers the sick and injured to the headquarters. Full training is provided.

**THE TRAILS AT BEAVER LAKE.** *(GOOGLE MAPS IMAGE)*

The Wildlife Rescue Association of BC recently held a training session for staff, volunteers and other rescue associations to learn how to clean birds that have come into contact with oil. This includes cooking oil dumped from restaurants and, of course, spilled oil in gas stations.

The workshop was presented by The International Bird Rescue in California and was funded by Procter and Gamble. Why the latter? Research from leading bird rescue organizations shows that the dish detergent Dawn is the safest and most effective product for removing all types of oils from wildlife.

Linda Bakker, co-executive director of Wildlife Rescue Association of BC, shares that Canola oil spills are as dangerous as crude oil spills. The Maratha ship oil spill in English Bay in 2016 saw 2,800 litres of bunker oil released, fouling our beaches and many seabirds that were rescued and cleaned by the organization.

Wildlife Rescue Association of BC is not funded by any government sources. It relies on donations. See “Related Links” below to make a contribution.

**A RECENT VISITOR TO THE WEST END AND STANLEY PARK.** *(FRANK LIN PHOTO)*

THE VISITING DEER

Stanley Park Ecology advises that the Conservation Officer Service relocated the visiting deer to the North Shore. The deer delighted visitors to Stanley Park and the seawall for several days.