Tracking Eastward

 

Kicked off April with an Easter morning paddle in the Nashua River Valley from the Oxbow NWR in Harvard, MA.  It was my first paddle since becoming fully vaccinated against COVID, and seeing  Mount Wachusett on the way to Oxbow (photo above) had me pondering the post-vaccination world we'll all soon be entering.  It was an exceptionally quiet and peaceful Sunday morning and I could feel the effects of my second dose beginning to wear off.   The banks of the Nashua won't look this barren much longer...

On Tuesday I moved further eastward of Wachusett paddling the Assabet River in the towns of Maynard and Stow where a classic New England sea breeze reached this far inland...  

 

Wrapped up the week yesterday still further eastward on the Sudbury River in the towns of Lincoln and Concord.  Once again a sea breeze developed as the day progressed.   

Fairhaven Bay from a different vantage point...

The week also saw eagles and ospreys returning to well-established nests.  One nest belonged to an eagle pair...one of which was perched 100 yards or so from the nest...

...while the other kept a closer watch over the nest...

An osprey nest atop a dead tree had a pair of osprey in close proximity...

...

The week's trash included one haul with some 58 'nip' bottles...

Checking my records revealed that my last 4 paddles on this 6 mile stretch of river has produced 258 'nip' bottles.  The 'nip' containers have no monetary value and therefore are treated as such.  I recently read of the State of Connecticut moving to include 'nip' bottles in their bottle deposit program, and assign them a redemption value of 10 cents each.  Hopefully the measure will succeed and help to get these containers out of the environment...at least in their state.  Maybe we in Massachusetts can tackle the 'nip' bottle problem as well.  Of course the State of Maine is way ahead of all the other New England states in dealing with 'nip' bottles.  Speaking of monetary incentives, it's interesting to note that folks regularly retrieve errant golf balls from water hazards on golf courses and earn up to 10 cents per ball.  

Another much lighter haul from a different river...

...and a third river chipped in this assemblage with more of a plastic bag theme...

  Always good to see an empty bag of ice melt and know the season for that stuff is over and done with.