Nature Sudbury River

Hendrik

Veteran
Location
Massachusetts
The Sudbury, Assabet and Concord Rivers have been given 'Wild and Scenic' status. Info may be found here. I am privileged to live close enough to the Sudbury to encounter it daily while going about my errands.

My wife and I go paddling on it regularly, weather and the rest of life permitting. I've been carrying Olympus gear with me for the past five years. My wife insisted on using her iPhone until earlier this summer at which point I 'loaned' her my E-M5 III and Panasonic 100-300. Getting it back may present a problem...

I find it impressive that this wonderful landscape and habitat is found not much more than a half hour away from a major city (Boston). What the photos don't convey is that, as isolated as it may look, we are never totally away from the sound of civilization.

Like much of the world, the Northeast is suffering drought. At this time, the river has shrunk until only the main channel is left. Side channels are dry. Normal mud flats on which small birds feed have been left dry and are covered in grass, which makes small birds invisible. The current has become slow enough that a light breeze can nudge a kayak upstream. Still, one encounters wildlife.

Greater Yellowlegs
_H6B0861-Editcam.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


Great Blue Heron, juv.
_H6B1028-Editcam.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


Cormorant, taking it on the lam
_H6B1056-Editcam.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


Muskrat feeding in seclusion
_H6B1152-Editcam.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Last edited:
Painted Turtle caught on a flooded mudflat, unable quickly to submerge.

_H6B2144cam.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


Cormorant, no doubt assessing routes of escape…

_H5B5153cam.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


Muskrat, bringing home the bacon

_H6B1786-Editcam.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


Beaver, heading back to the lodge, oblivious

_H5B9049-Editcam.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Thank you, John. Funny you should mention the wife’s camera preferences. Mine has chosen to move on from the P100-300 to the O75-300, which has proven itself to be a marginally better performer on the E-M5 Mark III. She still prefers to use the iPhone for general photography but seems to be committing to the telephoto rig for paddling the river and walking fields. Among other things, this keeps her further from the animals and, in consequence, she spooks fewer of them than before. This ends up giving me better chances at a given animal, too.
 
Back
Top