The first wing barrel was empty, as was expected. Almost always is. And came down easier than usual, because of the warm weather. The frozen road was turning to muddy mush in the warm sun, so only one fencepost was frozen into the ground. Too lazy to get out the jack and chain, so I just eventually pried it up with one of the other posts.

And had to wipe muddy heeler footprints off my truck seat when I was done. Normally don't have to worry about that until March.

Believe it or not, there was a blue grouse wing in the second barrel, right there on the Miracle Mile. A little rusty from all the moisture that has gotten in the barrel for the past three months or so, but otherwise in good condition. A female chick, with primary eight emerging. Barrel came up as easy as if it was set in sand, which it was.

Then it was a detour up river, just to check things out, and look for bald eagles (didn't find any). Just past the second latrine, I spotted a campsite where someone had recently chopped down more than half the cottonwood and aspen trees. And more downed timber up the road.

In about 200 meters of river bottom, we found at least 26 trees, all 10cm across or larger, that had been brought down.

At least half the cottonwoods and aspens in that stretch were gone. Yes, there's a few conifers in there, and they were untouched, but that's still a lot of habitat to lose in just a few months of winter.

Examination of the stumps identified the culpits.

Frickin' beaver.

You can see the marks of their teeth in the wood:

Frickin' beaver.

We tend to think of ourselves as the only mammals that will eat themselves out of house and home, but beaver are just as wasteful as we. Each tree had one or two branches gnawed off for the winter food supply,

but the rest of the branches were still there, well within reach. Instead, the large rodents went after newer, fresher trees. And they're not done. Quite a few larger trees still standing, but with scars of recent attacks:

Won't be long before they're gone, too. Unless we terminate the beaver first. Beaver completely wiped out a couple stands downriver a year or two ago. Gonna be kinda rough on the bald eagles if the beaver keep this up. Need to talk to a warden and see if they have any trappers on tap.

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