The Nest Will Rise Again

 

The highlight of this past week for me was seeing on Friday that the Assabet River eagle nest is in the process of being rebuilt.  Back on August 10th the nest was completely gone...

...and had me wondering if the eagles had decided to relocate.  Guess it was just a "tear-down and rebuild".  Prior to the tear-down the nest looked like this...

As compared to the opening photo, there's still a lot of stick placement yet to be done.

One of the adult pair was in a nearby tree on Friday...

...perhaps taking a break.

Ospreys were also seen on the Assabet Friday.  This one with a fish...

Ducks will need to be extra careful when in the vicinity of this recently constructed duck blind...

Another Assabet River development noted this past week was the strong slug of clear water rushing into the river  through the Fort Meadow Brook box culvert... 

I believe the city of Marlborough, MA is lowering the Fort Meadow Reservoir water level as it did last year starting on November 1.  According to the website FraminghamSource.com the approximately 250-acre  reservoir was lowered in 2021 by about 4 feet at a rate of 2 to 3 inches per day.  The lowering was done to allow for control of invasive weeds (milfoil, fanwort), reduction of Asian clams, and to allow for shoreline-structure repairs.  It was good to see the Assabet receiving such a strong flow of crystal-clear water and how it swept away much of the river's floating duckweed...

Yesterday I paddled the lower Assabet River between Westvale and Egg Rock in Concord, MA and found the river still enjoying a boost in current thanks to the inflow from Fort Meadow Reservoir.  By the way, despite its name, Fort Meadow Reservoir hasn't been used as a drinking water supply for many decades.

Earlier in the week, on Thursday, I paddled some of the Charles River in Millis, MA...

...between Dwight's Bridge and about a mile upstream from the boat launch at Forest Road.  There are plenty of bends in this stretch of the river and that caused me to surprise a pair of river otters.  Could only get a photo of one...

For me encounters with river otters are few and far between.

Two Trustees of Reservations properties are located along this stretch of the Charles:

Trash was light this past week:

Thursday's on the Charles...

Friday's on the Assabet...

Sunday's also on the Assabet which included a "Smoker's Outpost" plastic cigarette-butt receptacle...

Some recent beaver work seen on the Assabet:

Hope the beaver is careful making its final knaws!

Nearby was what looked to be a beaver training exercise...

Another very welcome development this past week was unseasonably warm temperatures...60s and 70s (F).  Unreal considering what the calendar says!  Lots of boaters out on the river yesterday enjoying the warmth.  Felt more like September!!!