Thursday, May 8, 2008

Lower Sudbury River to Beaver Village near Weir Hill

Taking advantage of Tuesday's ideal weather, I was in my boat and heading up the Sudbury River by 1:15 in the afternoon. The river was high, the sky was blue and a warm breeze was in my face. Yes, winter is a fast fading memory.

Just before passing under the Sudbury Road bridge, I stopped on river right to recover 6 empty beer cans and bottles. This spot is a constant source of trash. I noted a floating 5-gallon plastic pail which would wait until my return trip downriver for recovery. Two red-tailed hawks circled overhead.

At Martha's Point, a smaller hawk circled. It may have been a broadwinged hawk.

Arriving at Fairhaven Bay, an osprey was taking its turn at circling.

Approaching Lee's Bridge at 117, I grabbed a few more items of trash and then proceeded upriver to Weir Hill and the new beaver village just beyond that point. After passing the Weir Hill Landing, the river turns sharply to the left and just as it makes the next bend to the right, one can see two newly built beaver lodges in fairly close proximity to each other. These families must be related and decided to create a little neighborhood of their own. Counting these two lodges, I passed a total of 5 lodges in the 5.3 miles of river that I covered today.

Headed back downriver to slowly fading sun as clouds began to move in. Saw my first eastern kingbird of the season. My total for day was 14 pieces of trash, 9 of which were recycleable. YTD total = 1055

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