Water and Sticks

Wrapped up the month of March with paddles on the Charles River alongside Broadmoor (above) in Natick last Saturday, and the Sudbury River in Lincoln/Concord yesterday.  It won't be long before the trees lose their skeletal look and vegetation starts leafing out.  The confluence of Indian Brook and the Charles provided a theme of water and sticks...

...with a similar sight on the Sudbury River...

One beaver's source of frustration...

...as he apparently didn't notice the tree he'd spent hours gnawing through was attached to an adjacent trunk three feet above the ground.

Wood ducks were seen on both rivers.

Sudbury River...

Charles River...

The dam in South Natick showed a good flow...

...while the red bridge just upstream displayed an air of serenity...

An occupied eagle's nest was seen on the Sudbury...

...with the other adult eagle on a nearby bough...

That makes three different eagle nests seen in the last 11 days, all within a 20 mile radius of where I live.

Speaking of eagles, ran into Maury...

...a noted photographer of eagles.  He mentioned having seen the wayward Steller's sea eagle that recently visited Massachusetts and Maine.

Not a lot of trash:

Small haul from the Charles...

...and nearly the same from the Sudbury...

Looks like the bait-tub sans cover on one river and the cover sans bait-tub on another have found each other. 

A sign of the times? (I hope not)...

...note the bottom line reads "Go Home"

A Nashaway Nest

 

Got out on the Nashua River in Groton, MA yesterday.  The busy winds of the past few days had finally calmed down a bit.  The hilarious call of a male pileated woodpecker preceded this glimpse of him...

Later in my paddle I ran across this active eagles nest...

I'm guessing the one in the nest is incubating an egg or two.

Don't know if the fish were biting but the water's surface was busy with recently hatched flies...

Trash included 42 nip bottles...

The Last Look of Winter

 

Yesterday didn't turn out to be the all-day rain event the weather forecasters had predicted.  When this became apparent at noontime I headed out onto a gray and drizzly Assabet River in Maynard and Stow on the last full day of calendar winter.  Most of the day's color was courtesy of the male wood duck...

Visited the eagles nest where according to the info on the Mass.gov website there may be an egg or two...

According to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, "The female Bald Eagle lays one to three (two average)  dull white eggs several days apart, usually between early March and early April.  The eggs are incubated (mostly by the female) for approximately 35 days until hatching."

On the way back downriver I came upon the same dark-around-the-eyes eagle often encountered within a one mile radius of the nest...

At one point in our encounter I got "the look"...

A modest amount of trash encountered along the way...

Heard Pond with Ease

 

Rarely have I been able to so easily access Heard Pond (above) from the Sudbury River as I did on Tuesday.  Most of the brambles usually encountered along the pathway were submerged making for an easy passage.  The day was a classic spring beauty with not even a solitary ice cube to be found.

Plenty of red-winged blackbirds as well as mergansers, wood ducks, and a marsh hawk.  Between Route 20 and Pelham Island Rd. large bird circled above...

Initially thought it to be an immature eagle but now wonder if it may have been a turkey vulture.  The object of its attention appeared to be this deceased mute swan...

Once back at River Rd. where I'd launched from I noticed the nearby Rt. 27 bridge was getting more work...

 Couldn't resist taking a look at Wayland's old Town Bridge while in the vicinity...

Trash spoke of pale ale and a cluster of "Get Well Soon" balloons...

Back to a Hot Spot

Got in one last Standard Time paddle yesterday on a 2-mile stretch of the Nashua River from the Oxbow NWR's south end.  The day was a beauty with temperatures in the mid fifties F. and winds being relatively calm for a change.  River levels remain high and the meadows near the Still River were flooded over...

A little after noontime a later than usual CXST freight train (Q427) crossed the river on its way towards Worcester providing some moving graffiti to compliment to the bridge's permanent drawings...

Moving at a slow pace it took awhile until the last car cleared the bridge...

This was first visit to this stretch of the Nashua in 2022.  It was a hot spot for trash last year and yesterday it provided yet another bounty of plastic containers, Styrofoam, and nip bottles...

Counted the nips...211 of them.

Spring Gets a Toehold

 

River water levels have dropped half a foot in the past week as can be seen at the Egg Rock inscription above.  The drop left a fragile ice shelf reaching out from this tree...

Heading down the Concord River this past Sunday morning it quickly became apparent that large groups of birds were out and about.  Included among the robins, red-winged blackbirds, cardinals, kingfishers, was this bluebird...

...and this pair of hooded mergansers...

Trash was on the light side...

A toy soldier found at the "Holt" served as a reminder of the horrific state of affairs in Ukraine...

Had this paddler appreciating Concord's Old North Bridge a little more than usual...

 ...and realizing how fortunate we, here in America, are.