Please join the Simsbury Grange and The Simsbury Public Library in welcoming local filmmaker, Ray Asselin, as he presents his 5-part Beaver Pond Wildlife series documenting a full year’s time at New England beaver ponds. The films are scheduled to coincide with what you can expect to see at northeastern beaver ponds at that time of the year. All of the films will be shown at 7:00 pm at the grange with an informal social hour beginning at 6:00 pm. Guests may bring food to enjoy outside or in the lower level before each film begins.
The nesting ospreys now have chicks in the nest that must be fed. A young beaver is stranded when a flood washes out the family's dam. A bear tears into a beaver lodge. Osprey chicks take their first flights. Newly fledged kingfishers and red-shouldered hawks learn hunting skills. Hummingbirds feed on, and pollinate, jewelweed and cardinal flowers. We see why jewelweed is called "touch-me-not"; and the only carnivorous butterfly in the country. The painted turtle eggs hatch below ground, and tiny hatchlings emerge. Various fall flowers found around the pond are seen; aquatic bladderwort traps prey. Tiny slugs hatch from eggs. Fall foliage signals the end of warm weather, and wildlife, including beavers, must prepare for winter.