Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Driving Less, Paddling More

There's a lot to be said for sticking close to home...like this upriver view on the Assabet...
...only minutes from my front door.  It was one of the few moments of late when the winds weren't whippin'.

My Assabet travels, yesterday, took me upriver and upbrook to the abandoned and fire-ravaged railroad trestle on Fort Meadow Brook...

Encountered numerous birds of prey along the way such as this hawk on Crow Island...
...and a masked osprey...

Beneath them were two families of mute swans recently expanded.  This being the larger one...

Was surprised at not seeing one of the familiar eagles around Crow Island until this eagle was eventually seen perched in a tall pine overlooking Fort Meadow Brook's impounded waters...

The preceding Wednesday I explored the Sudbury River between the stones...bridges of stone that is.  The Old Stone's Bridge at my upriver terminus...
...and the Old Town Bridge at the downriver point...

Between them some nice paddling was to be had on a still high and wide Sudbury River...

Once again Heard Pond was easily accessed, and its one island...
...could be likewise circumnavigated.

Musquashes were out and about such as this guy sporting the slicked back look...
...and this younger fellow displaying a fair amount of bed head...

Most elegant, however, was this nested mute swan...

The only trash recovered of late has been that which has completed its mandatory 21 day flotsam quarantine...

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