"Nippy" Days Under July's "Buck Moon"

 

Started my paddling week on Monday by getting out on a beautiful stretch (photo above) of the Nashua River that I'd not yet paddled this year.

Stopped at the Bill Ashe roller-launch in Devens, MA where, despite being tempted, I decided not to take a chance of damaging my boat's composite hull...

Instead I drove about a mile or so downriver to Ice House Dam in Ayer, MA...

...at Walker Rd. where I used the portage takeout spot above the dam. 

Launched from the relative safety of the weeds while a pair of Berkshire and Eastern locomotives pushed a long string of auto-racks to the east...

Once out on the river I paddled into a refreshing breeze which seemed to be sweeping down the river from the southwest...

Eventually came across a fallen tree spanning about two thirds of the river's width.  Trapped between two of its limbs was this collection of plastic flotsam...

...where there were more than 150 "nip" bottles.

Wildlife encountered included this white-tailed buck feeding along the river while his new antlers are fast growing...said to be the reason for July's full moon being called the "Buck Moon" ...

This trio of ducklings appeared to be out and about on their own...

Once back at Walker Rd. the freight trains kept rolling by...

Closed out my paddling week on Friday with a morning paddle on the Sudbury River in Wayland, MA...

Cloudy skies, cool temps, and calm winds allowed for both vegetation and critters to begin the drying out process following Thursday's soaking rains.  Deer were out and about...

Saw my second white-tailed buck of the week...

Several large snapping turtles were seen adjacent to the river bank...

One had left the river behind...quite literally...

...perhaps also responding to the "full moon".

A pair of tree swallows were enjoying a quiet moment...

Saw my first button bush flowers of the season...

Openings in the cloud cover began to appear as I returned to the takeout...

Encountered two fellow kayakers while out on the Sudbury.  Roger in his Equinox and another kayaker in a Current Designs boat. 

Found this small whisky bottle laying at the shoreline (that cleaned up nicely)...

 ...embossed on the bottom "Full 1/2 Pint".  Probably been in the river for a long time.

Monday's trash from the Nashua River included 210 "nip" bottles...

Friday's trash from the Sudbury included 16 "nip" bottles...

Newbies to the Skies

 

This past week was a good one for seeing new additions to our national bird population.  Three of these eaglet additions were seen to have recently fledged and were observed while taking some of their first flights.  Nests on both the Assabet and Sudbury rivers have proved successful yet again.  My paddling week ended early yesterday morning with a sighting of a Sudbury River eaglet lifting off from a tree a short distance from the nest (above photo).  

I'd started my week last Monday with a visit to the Assabet River nest where I got to see both of that nest's eaglets fly back to their nest in expectation of a food delivery.  One of them spread his wings to regain stability...

  

The adult eagle food deliverer stuck around the nest for awhile...

Monday was a beauty of day to be out on the Assabet River...

A tree-top heron...

...and an osprey...

Mid-week, on a mostly cloudy Wednesday, I paddled the section of the Merrimack River Thoreau referred to as the "Horseshoe Interval"...

...in his A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.  On the upriver passage he mentioned Horseshoe Interval being "where the river makes a sudden bend to the northwest - for our reflections have anticipated our progress somewhat".  On their return trip he mentioned it again describing it as "where there's a high and regular second bank".   At the Interval's north end this adult eagle was seen...

Leaving the Interval's southern end at the Tyngsborough Bridge...

Thoreau's account of that Friday in 1839, the same day that he and his brother passed through the Horseshoe Interval on their return trip, made the observation:

 "My life has been the poem I would have writ, 

But I could not both live and utter it". 

He also wrote in the Friday section "How fortunate were we who did not own an acre of these shores, who had not renounced our title to the whole. One who knew how to appropriate the true value of this world would be the poorest man in it. The poor rich man! all he has is what he has bought. What I see is mine. I am a large owner in the Merrimack intervals."

Early yesterday, it being the morning after Fourth of July celebrations, I found a very quiet and peaceful Sudbury River especially the Conantum section near Martha's Point...

The river was at a much lower level as this dock's steeply-pitched ramp attests...

The low level allowed passing through the smaller portal at Lee's Bridge...

Beavers have built a sturdy dam of sticks where the outlet from Farrar Pond joins the river...

The Sudbury River eagle nest is another example of a stick-built structure...

Over the past two weeks eagles have been seen on seven out of seven paddles (Maine, New Brunswick, Massachusetts).

Trash on the Assabet River was scarce...

...and included this empty can of "Big Blue" blueberry ale...

The Merrimack River was more plastic endowed...

...and included this odd container...

Trash on the Sudbury River was zippo (even at shore-fishing spots) which was nice to see for a change.