Wetlands

Saturday afternoon, I was back at GMNWR.  Practically overnight, the impoundments went from frozen from shore to shore to half filled with open water.  The sea gulls were having a grand time out there fishing.

Personally, I had hoped that the eagles were back.  My plan was to wade out using some knee high boots to see if I could get some closer shots.  Well, the eagles had been back in the morning, but they had moved on.  That's okay, my  plan was flawed.  The dike path that seems so flat, really has quite a pitch to it.  The water was quickly 18 inches deep.  The next step I took, would have flooded over the tops of my boots.

The geese started to return en masse.   Easily forty or fifty Canada Geese marked their arrival with much honking  and a lap around the lower impoundment before settling onto the open water.

The photo foray group wandered out along the old railroad bed and down the edge trail.  This picture of the sign pretty much describes the refuge's state - Wetlands!  A little further on this path we noticed a pine with a widow maker leaning against it.  Scanning up the trunk further, you'll see a very dangerous limb suspended vertically resting on a nub of a branch.

One advantage of the flooding is that is pushes the wildlife closer to shore.  This muskrat, was posing for portraits along the side of the road.   It must be a female - no male would be caught with pink nails!

I also liked this chipmunk living the a hole in the bottom of a tree.  To bad he isn't meticulous in the care of his front lawn.  The random twigs and blades of grass made it tough to get a clean photo.

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.