After the thrill of eagles and swans at the Mystic Lakes, February is going straight downhill. There's so much bad stuff going on at the lakes that I can't keep up with it. First, the DCR plowed the trails. Think about that for a second, they plowed unpaved trails. By the way, the 'C' in DCR is supposed to stand for 'Conservation'. It's a long story that I'm trying to write about at some point.

 

But this, this really makes me angry. I mentioned just yesterday in the dead cat story that someone has been dumping construction debris repeatedly. This is what the tree next to the Tufts boathouse looked like yesterday. The photo below is what it looked like this afternoon. (it's the same tree, just a different angle.) They dumped a toilet, for crying out loud. The person(s) who is doing this needs to be caught.

 

You know, I'm always amazed at the brazen nature of people like this. I had thought that in the winter, the polluting would slow down. For awhile, it did. But it has really picked up now, and some other dynamics are at work as well. For about a month, the pull-offs were not plowed, depriving some people from dumping their crap in the garbage cans there. The solution to that problem seemed to be just throwing trash bags out of the car on to the side of the road.

 

Occasionally, when I'm out surveying and photographing the trash that people dump at the Mystic Lakes, I find something disturbing. Such was the case on Valentine's day. This box, sitting a few feet out on the ice on the upper Mystic Lake, was not visible from the road. I saw it from the shoreline over on the Medford side, where it stuck out like a sore thumb against the brush of the bank.

 

I have to admit, I get a little excited when I see something like this, because I get very curious as to what it might be. Most of the time, it's just trash. Not this time.

 

 

I have two cats myself, so you can imagine my horror when I walked out over the ice and looked into the box and saw this.

 

 

Usually, I don't have much recourse when I discover nasty things in the trash of the Mystic. The various authorities (and there are a number of them) usually want an eyewitness account of the dumping in order to actually investigate. They don't do CSI-style forensics on your garden variety trash, even if it is hazardous stuff like paint solvents, or the myriad of construction debris that is being dumped with increasing frequency along the lakes (three incidents in the last month or so, one at the boat club, one on Pine Ridge Road, and one on Mystic Valley Parkway).

 

But in this case, I was so annoyed, frustrated, and angry that I called the MSPCA. Although they also would have preferred an eyewitness report of the dumping, they agreed to send an officer over, and an hour later I got a call from the cops asking for directions.

 

The reason I did this is because I didn't know if the cat met a natural or un-natural death, and I didn't have the protective gear or time to look myself. This isn't the first time I've found dead animals at the lakes, although it's the first time I've found a housepet.

 

In my own way, I'm praying for the person who did this. They must be very troubled. At least the MSCPA enforcement people are now responsible for a better resting place for this poor cat.

Kim Davidson, who is getting very busy indeed as the singer for DiggerDawg, will be performing Thursday, March 10th at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston. This is a huge deal - it's a talent showcase being run by Xtreme Music Group, and will feature local and international A&R reps, including Virgin and Columbia. She'll get to perform two songs and then will interact with the panel of national reps.

 

She's on at 7PM sharp, admission is $10. Let's all help cheer her on.

 

By the way, does anyone know of someone who can babysit on, um, Thursday March 10th? Just kidding, I think I got it covered. I'm looking forward to it Kim!

 

Yes, that is, in fact, a bald eagle here in Medford/Winchester. It is wintering on the lower Mystic Lake. If you've never seen an eagle up close before, well, it's a very large bird. They are around 3 feet in height with a wingspan of six feet or so. I'd heard that there was an eagle around, but I didn't think much of it. A few weeks ago, I was driving along Mystic Valley Parkway, and I saw the eagle on the ice. It wasn't like I was looking for it either. I just looked out over the ice and saw what was clearly an enormous black bird, and an eagle is really the only thing it could be.

 

So I went down the road to the Medford Boat Club, hopped down to the shore, and took some pictures. I have seen a lot of birders there before, mostly from the Menotomy Bird Club (I presume). They cover the lakes quite frequently. I ran into a birder on the shore who was watching the eagle with binoculars. He told me, among other things, that it's been wintering here for five years, and likes to hang out in the "bird tree" at the Medford Boat Club. This eagle has three young (two are visible in this photo).

 

I don't have a lens nearly long enough to take a really good picture, so this will have to do. At any rate, as we're chatting, a pair of swans come swimming by (they are very accustomed to people, and hang out on the lakes, the Mystic River, the Aberjona river, and so forth). Well, this is why you always carry a camera with you.

 

So I had this wonderful nature experience, met a nice birder, and generally had my faith restored in the potential of the suburbs for accomodating wildlife. My faith has since been severely shaken by other events, but I have not the time to write about that quite yet.