Sometimes It Pays To Show Up

After completing my errands, I figured I would run over to Concord, poke my head by Great Meadows to find how high the water was, and then continue on to find the kayak launching spot in town.

 The water level was a bit higher than Wednesday and the flooding has filled in more of the low lying areas.  The parking lot is still safe.

As I arrived a father and daughter were excitedly viewing a couple of Bald Eagles feeding on the impoundment.  The birds were too far away for anything more than a "record" shot.  From the looks of them one was probably mature, while the other was probably a 4 year old.

The beavers from the lodge near the tower were out and busily swimming and feeding.  At one point we counted three distinct beaver.  There are also several muskrats that are starting to swim near the tower too.





A couple of mink were having a bit of a territorial dispute near the base of the tower.  They were running around chasing each other, finally swimming away.





Another day was drawing to a close.  It was fun to watch the interplay of fog, light, land and clouds.  Nancy also stopped by on her way from work to enjoy photographing the sunset.







Executives returning from work were flying back into Hanscom.  Ducks and Geese were returning from another day of foraging to sleep on the open water.   The Red-winged Blackbirds started their evensong chorus.






Here at the refuge all is calm and peaceful.  Elsewhere in the world hundreds of people are dead and lives of thousands more totally disrupted due to the force of an earthquake and tsunami.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.

Great Meadows Refuge & Water Park

I arrived at Great Meadows this morning to learn that I wasn't going to be circumnavigating the impoundments, because my kayak was at home.  The Concord River continues to rise.  The path by the kiosk is under water, though the parking lot is still dry.  At the other end of the lower impoundment, the water is flowing out and down the Concord.   I don't know exactly how much higher than normal that is, but you can see the measurement post is almost totally submerged.







I spent a bit of time on the tower, trying to see what was going on in the refuge.  It was a slow morning.  Several geese flew from the river to go foraging for the day.  A robin decided to visit the tree near the tower, and posed in the early morning light.  It was soon on its way too.





I wandered along the old railroad bed and along much of the Timber trail.  Unfortunately, the sky soon clouded, making for uninspired photography.  As I wandered, I made mental notes of potential future subjects.  The patterns frozen in the ice overnight caught my eye.  I wonder what causes the ice to form those lines?






The usual suspects for birds were out and about.  I hit the trifecta, seeing a Downy, Red-bellied, and Pileated Woodpecker during my walk.  Alas, they were a bit far away, or in lousy light to be photographed today.

Great Meadows was running a special on squirrels today.  A couple of red squirrels posed for their portraits.  There is a new tenant of last year's Screech Owl hole, a "Grey Morph" squirrel.







The good news is that by the time, I returned to the parking lot, the water level was down 1-2 inches (based upon the water marks on the trees.)  The bad news is that Friday we are supposed to get between 1/2 - 2 inches of rain, so I expect that I may still have a chance to kayak the refuge.

 

You Can't Judge A Day By Its Weather

I woke up early, hoping that the warm weather combined with the icy impoundments would yield stunning images of fog and mist playing amongst the reeds and trees.  Alas, the conditions didn't cooperate.  Since I was here, it was worth seeing what had changed.

I was glad that I had wore my L.L.Bean duck shoes.  Much of the path is now muddy gravel.  There aren't too many washouts, but enough to keep Alan and his volunteers busy for a couple days.  Today, I appreciated the irony that the part of the path which used to be the good footing of packed snow, is now the treacherous footing of packed ice with a coat of water.  There was an unusual quiet in the air, until I realized I was no longer hearing the crunching of snow and ice underfoot.

The good news is that though the Concord River has risen, it still has not overflowed into the impoundments.  The bad news is that in most places it only has 1-2 feet to rise before it will. All of the outflows are now inflows as the higher level of the river is forcing water back into the refuge.

There are signs of the flooding everywhere along the river.  All the trees are immersed.  One of the benches that previously was buried in snow, was partially submerged.  Down by the boat ramp, you could watch as large pieces of ice would periodically go racing by.





Down by the beaver lodge, they were busily huddled on their roof.  They sounded the alarm when I first arrived, but then got used to my company.  Most their time was spent grooming and lounging on the top of their lodge.  This went on until very late in the morning.  I wondered if they didn't feel comfortable inside their lodge due to the flooding, so much like human flood victims, they were clinging to the roof of their house.  Or just maybe, cold, windy, wet weather is a beaver's idea of a great day.







The wildlife that was visible was a mixture of old friends and new friends.  A coyote was seen wandering around the upper impoundment.  Several crows were seen scavenging the remains of a muskrat lodge.  (I can only assume the coyote visited it first.)  Red-winged Blackbirds were calling.  Several gulls were flying about looking for openings in the water.  Unfortunately, as I was departing two mute swans arrived.  I hope that they know that Massachusetts has strict anti-bullying laws and their behavior is not welcome here.