“The Adventures of Buddy the beaver: Buddy explores the pond”
By Carson and Jim Clark
During my trip to Yellowstone with mom and dad in 2007, my mom suggested that dad and I do a book together. dad had already published a few books and he said that he always wanted to do a book with me. Although I was only eight at the time, I had already won a few awards for my nature photography and I liked to write. I was really excited about doing a book with my dad.
So after our Yellowstone trip, we started talking about doing a book for children that would not only include our photography, but our writing, too.
During the winter of 2008, dad and I came up with the idea of doing a book about a family of beavers at the
Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve near my home in Leesburg, Virginia.
Dad had learned about a new beaver family that had created a pond below an old abandoned beaver pond at the preserve. To get started, dad said we needed to explore the pond and learn more the natural history of beavers. We began reading about beavers and talking to preserve manager Mr. Ron Circe and his assistant Mr. Dave Clark at Banshee Reeks about beaver natural history. To be a good nature photographer, you have to be a naturalist first.
During February 2008, dad and I started hiking out to the pond to check on the beavers. We tried to explore the pond and the preserve every Friday after school. Thanks to Mr. Circe and Mr. Clark, we also knew about any beaver activity they saw. At times, they even allowed us to use their Kubota to carry our photography gear to the pond.
One early spring evening just before it got dark, dad and I saw a huge beaver swimming in the pond. dad encouraged me to walk slowly to the beaver to see how close I could get. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I was able to get very close to it. I was so excited! I just sat along the pond’s edge while the beaver fed on some branches. While I sat there it slapped its tail and dove into the water. In the next instant, the beaver surfaced and was only few feet from me. I was so happy and I couldn’t believe what was happening. Exploring nature is so wonderful. You never know what to expect!
Our journey to document the beaver family was started. But our story doesn’t end there. There were many twists and curves, some good, some challenging.
First, we had to learn more about beaver natural history and ecology. Since dad and mom are both wildlife ecologists, learning about beavers and wetland ecology was pretty simple. Mr. Circe and Mr. Clark also helped us with their knowledge of beaver ecology and the habitats at Banshee Reeks. We watched a National Geographic program about beavers that taught us a lot, too.
For several months dad and I would go out to the preserve every Friday after school to explore the pond and watch for any beaver activity. Mr. Circe allowed us to use his listening devices to check for activity in the lodge. A few times we were able to hear the beavers in the lodge, but eventually, the beaver family abandoned the pond. We were not sure at that time what we would do.
Lucky for dad and me, my Uncle Norman and my grandmother, who both live in War, West Virginia in the southern most portion of the state, knew of a beaver family that was living in the Dry Fork River, which borders the town. The beaver had become very used to the people watching them from the bridge above the river. Mr. Quinto Falgiani, a resident of War, would collect willow branches and apples and take them to the river each evening to feed to the beavers. Eventually, the beavers became accustomed to people watching them.
Dad and I decided to go to War and see if we could photograph the beaver family. It was so cool to watch the beaver family swimming in the Dry Fork River. Every evening, the family would come out of their lodge to swim in the river. There were two large adults, one much larger than the other. There were also three smaller beavers that dad referred to as yearlings or sub adults and two very small beavers that we assumed had been born in the spring.
For several evenings, just before the sun dipped below the mountains surrounding the town, we would set up along the bank, wait for the beavers and then photograph as much as we could before it got dark. At times we were treated to lots of activity, while other evenings, we never saw them. We traveled there during the summer of 2007 to photograph the beaver family.
While dad used his Nikkor 600mm and 200-400mm telephoto lenses, I used my trusty Nikon D80 with a Nikkor 70-300mm VR zoom lens. At times the beavers were so close, we couldn’t focus on them!
We took hundreds of images that we could use for our book. At times the beavers were so close, we couldn’t even focus our lenses on them!
After dad and I thought about it for awhile, we made a decision to write a story about a young beaver named Buddy, who explores his pond and meets all the other animals that live near or around the pond. In his journey around the pond one day, Buddy meets many new friends. He learns how each new friend lives in nature. He also meets his older friends as well. He learns that no matter how different all his friends are, they are each important to the beauty of the world.
We traveled around West Virginia and Virginia that summer photographing various species of wildlife, including chipmunks, dragonflies, white-tailed deer, snails, and many different types of birds. I loved naming the characters for the story. Some of the characters include Carrots the rabbit, Dawn the fawn, Cards the cardinal, and Michael the monarch butterfly. Now we had to start writing the story.
During the fall of 2007 and winter of 2008, dad and I went to the Leesburg Restaurant every Friday after school to have a late lunch and spend an hour or so writing the story. While we were photographing for the book, we would also write and it was during one of our hikes that we decided to do a series of books about Buddy the beaver, one for each season.
While we were excited about doing four books about Buddy, dad and I knew that we needed to finish the first story before we could start on another. So, we continued writing the story of Buddy exploring his pond. We also knew we had to get more images of the beaver family.
In June and August of 2008, we went back to War to photograph the beaver family again. But unfortunately, because of some construction work happening near the river, the beavers left the area. It wasn’t until the spring of 2009 that the beaver family returned again. We spent a week that August photographing the beavers again. We got lots of new images that we could use not only for our first book, but for the second book as well.
Finally, we had completed our first story and we were ready to find a publisher for the book. Dad had a book published through Mountain Trail Press and the publisher, Mr. Ian Plant reviewed our book and decided he would like to publish it. We were very happy. Mr. Plant is one cool guy and a great photographer, too.
During 2009, we spent lots of time working on the images, fine turning the story, and working with Mr. Plant to prepare the layout for the book. We also made trips to West Virginia to continue photographing other characters for the second book.
During our trip to Yellowstone in 2009, dad and I came up with the story for the second book in the series about Buddy the beaver. This one would be called The Mystery of the Missing Friends. The book would be set in early spring with Buddy coming out of his lodge to explore the pond and see what his friends have been doing. Buddy soon learns that many of his friends are not at the pond and he becomes concerned. With the help of his mom and dad and his many friends, Buddy learns about migration and hibernation. He then understands that many of his friends only left for the winter and would return later in the spring.
We are still working on the story and once it is finished, we will be starting on our third and fourth stories for the series. Be sure to come back to my website to learn more about Buddy the Beaver and his adventures!
