Peak Foliage

Peak Foliage
October on Preston Pond

Brief History of Preston Pond

Born from glaciers about 13,500 years ago, the original pond was only what is now the wider north end. Probably about 10,000 years ago, as the modern forest started to take root, beavers colonized the pond and expanded it (old dams are under the water surface).

With the arrival of Europeans in New York and coastal New England, a vigorous fur trade grew in the 17th Century. Beavers are particularly vulnerable to trapping since they are easy to find and they were wiped out by the 18th Century. With no beavers to maintain the dams, Preston Pond drained and appears on 18th and 19th Century maps as only the smaller original glacial north end.


Reintroduction in the 1920's and 1930's led to beavers recolonizing Preston Pond. By chance, they arrived the same year my grandfather bought the property in 1946. Ever since then, beavers have lived unmolested (by humans) on Preston Pond - until February 2016. They have never caused flooding problems or over-eaten the surrounding forest stand to the point that they abandoned the pond. Their population has doubtlessly had its ups and downs, but they have managed their affairs here for the last 70 years as beavers did for millions of years: on their own, despite some of their top predators having been exterminated by humans.

[In talking to members of our family, there have been two brief intervals in the past when the beavers were absent: First, in '71/'72 (I was preoccupied with high school, track and cross-country so didn't notice or recall and the reason is unknown) and second in '83/'84 after a major dam break. At least one adult was killed in the outwash. I was living in NYC at the time and a new father and again, had forgotten that as well].





Wednesday, July 24, 2019

We're Back: Golden Eagle over Preston Pond (and more to come).

I started this post last October and never posted it. Picking up where I left off:

Well, we have been inactive on this blog since the debacle in which the 2015/2017 Select Board allowed the Preston Pond beaver colony to be exterminated and refused to act to prevent future repetitions of the fiasco.

However, Sunday (October 28, 2018; and the passage of time) gave us a good reason to get back to it. A Golden Eagle over Preston Pond!

I reported a Bald Eagle earlier this year on the pond on Front Porch Forum. It was the first I'd ever seen actually on Preston Pond, however, Bald Eagles are not rare here and actually nest in Missisquoi. Golden Eagles are rare in Vermont. Happily, I've seen many Goldens in travels out west, northern Canada, and Alaska including one just last month while canoeing across the Ungava Peninsula between Hudson and Ungava bays, so I'm easily familiar with distinguishing them from immature Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures.

This one was soaring over the north end of Preston Pond at 3:00 pm Sunday, October 28. When I first spotted it, it was about 500 ft up and sidling and spiraling down. It was a heavily overcast day and with the low, late afternoon light created very poor lighting conditions for telephoto shots. However, as the bird descended, I picked out some telltale field marks of a Golden; slight V to the wings (less than a vulture but more than the board straight posture of a Bald), slight crook to the wings, primaries spread into fingers, relatively small head and long tail. In my shots, the golden nape showed clearly enough to be determinative. The photo has been confirmed by a host of experts.


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Location: Preston Pond, Bolton, VT 05465, USA

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