Cemetery Photography & Eagle Nest In Waltham

                Cemetery Photography And Eagle Nest In Waltham

  Now that its mid-Fall, the action is really slowing down. No birds are nesting, no coyotes or foxes are denning, and things are starting to hibernate. I've been looking around lately for new locations I have never checked out before. Just a few days ago, I came across some photos online from earlier this year of an eagle nest in Waltham, and one in Sherborn. I have a better mental map of Waltham then Sherborn, so I left for the Waltham nest on Wednesday morning (Seniors didn't have to get to school that day until 11:00am because of testing). I was in a rush though, because I still thought I had to get to school by 11, when it had really been moved back to 11:30. 

10/12:

Heres how my half an hour of walking around went:

One of the roads was absolutely overrun with canada geese...

The geese in Waltham are a lot more bold around humans than the ones in Framingham. The geese had almost zero reaction to me walking right through their group. 

I found what I thought was the white pine in all the photos online. I couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't tell whether the photos online had been super zoomed in, distorting things, or I was looking at the nest of a either a blue jay or squirrel. I even considered that the nest had completely fallen apart since the photo, and I was looking at the handful of sticks that remained. Either way, I knew eagle's nests are way bigger than this thing (for size reference, this was a very young pine tree)

I figured I had the wrong spot, but I had to go to school. I planned to come back the day after, when I had more time.

10/13

    I was right. The eagles nest was further down the road, and across a pond. I went back after school. It was lightly raining. This time i walked straight to where the actual nest was. It was hard to miss, and was in a much older pine than the one above...

Of course, there were no eagles today. Bald eagles raise chicks in Spring and early Summer, and for the rest of the year they have no reason to go near the nest, other than the occasional adding of a stick. The parents could have been anywhere within a 10 mile radius. Now I know where to go in April. 

I then decided to do a loop around the back of the cemetary, along the Charles River. Very close to the site of the nest was a unnaturally bold grey squirrel. Animals in more urban environments tend to get this way because of feeding, and just overall getting used to encountering people alot.

Sugar maples were planted all over the cemetery, which look amazing at this time of year, and are native to the United States, unlike the Norway Maple, which is usually planted everywhere. I usually don't post landscape photos on my blog...

As I walked further down the road, I came across a dead standing maple tree with a few clusters of edible oyster mushrooms. I took one of the bunches home for dinner. That was a lucky find.

...And so was this...

                                       ...And then the rain started to pick up a bit, so i left.