The word “Ashuelot” is pronounced Ash-will-ot if you’re from this area or Ash-wee-lot if you’re from away. The word is a Native American one meaning “collection of many waters.” For years I read that the word meant “the place between” but that didn’t make a lot of sense. “A collection of many waters” makes much more sense because that’s exactly what the river is. Wandering the banks of the Ashuelot is something I’ve done since I was too young to even retain the memory of doing so, and I do it often. On this day I was happy to see that the ice shelves had melted and the sandy / stony shoreline was back. The river has been very high for over a month and it’s good to see it finally ready to absorb the next big rain storm, which should come sometime in April unless that month has gone haywire too.
I stopped to admire some ice formations and take some photos so I wouldn’t have to try and explain how cold it was. Actually it wasn’t bad in the sunshine when the wind wasn’t blowing but it was blowing almost constantly along this stretch of river, so it was a day to be wrapped up like you would be in January.
The ice had formed discs on every twig that was in the water and this was remarkable only because the ever splashing water usually forms icy tear drop shapes on the twigs. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen these disc shapes here before.
Here is what I’m more used to seeing. Ice baubles I call them, but there weren’t many to be seen. They happen because of the way the current makes the water constantly rise and fall along the shoreline, so one second the twig is in the cold air and the next it’s under water. The runoff freezes and layer by layer and an ice bauble is made. It reminds me of dipping a wick in melted wax over and over again to make a candle.
This is where I come to practice my wave catching skills but there were none to catch on this day because the water was too low. It has to be at just the right height for good waves to form. Too low or too high and there are no waves. I took some photos anyway though, because the water looked like satin as it poured over the unseen stones that cause the waves.
Oak leaves huddled together as if to warm each other in the chilly breeze. I love the warm, orangey brown color of last year’s oak leaves, but I won’t be sorry to see them finally fall.
The oak buds seemed to be swelling a bit but it was hard to know. Oaks are one of our latest trees to leaf out in spring.
I saw a chubby little bird in a bush which looked like it was hoping I wouldn’t see it. I think it was a dark eyed junco but I’m not 100% sure of that. I see these small dark colored birds feeding in flocks along roadsides where the snow has melted away from the pavement , exposing the soil and grass. I’ve read that dark eyed juncos come here as winter sets in and leave in spring, so they must like the cold. There are said to be about 630 million of them from Alaska to Mexico, and all across the U.S. from coast to coast.
I wondered if the juncos were eating the sumac seeds so I had to look it up. Apparently they eat smaller seeds like those of grasses, lamb’s quarters and the like, and in warmer months they also eat insects. Robins, blue jays, grosbeaks, ruffed grouse, cardinals and other larger birds eat the sumac fruit, but it never disappears here until spring.
I went to visit the Ashuelot Falls on West Street in Keene. I used to fish here quite often when I was a boy but back then the river wasn’t as clean as it is now so I didn’t catch that many fish. An occasional perch or dace was about it but that was fine, because my being here really didn’t have much to do with catching fish anyway. I’d let a forked stick hold my pole while I explored the river bank. Now they catch trout here, I’m told.
I wouldn’t have been surprised to see ice pancakes in January but this was March, so I was surprised.
Ice pancakes form when the river foam stirred up by falls or other turbulence comes together into a misshapen lump. As the current moves the misshapen lumps they bump and jostle each other until all the rough edges are shaved off and they’ve become round like a pancake. Then they begin to freeze and their edges build up into rims.
Here is what an ice pancake looks like when it starts life, before its friends smooth out all those angles.
Canada geese waded in the shallows. More and more of them are returning to nest and raise their young in the reed beds along the river. There is always one lookout standing tall while the others preen, sleep, or eat and they count on their lookout to sound the alarm. I wondered if most of these birds even knew I was there.
My pointing the camera at them was too much for one or two of the geese and they swam off quickly.
Normally a river gets deeper as you go toward its middle but a sandbar has grown here, so the water in the middle is quite shallow. Not good for navigation but the geese know they can stand here rather than swim and they take advantage of being able to rest while still in the water. The shading from dark to lighter brown in this photo shows where the sandbar is.
A maple tree had been pecked full of holes by an unseen woodpecker.
I didn’t have to see this woodpecker to know it was a pileated woodpecker, which is our biggest. Its holes are large and almost always rectangular. All of the holes in the previous photo would fit inside this one with plenty of room to spare.
The hole in this old red maple (Acer rubrum) was the biggest of all but I doubt very much that it was made by a bird or an animal. I think the river has washed the soil out from under it.
The hole was plenty big and roomy enough for me to comfortably sit in, almost like a hobbit.
I knew the old tree was a red maple by its buds. The bud scales in many of these examples had pulled back to reveal the many pinkish flowers inside. Those over on the left were even protruding a bit from the bud, but it was still too early to tell if they were male or female blossoms. It’s a good thing they hadn’t fully opened because the temperature fell to zero degrees on this night. The cold isn’t going to leave quickly this year but today is the first full day of spring, even if it doesn’t seem it.
I was born upon thy bank, river,
My blood flows in thy stream,
And thou meanderest forever,
At the bottom of my dream.
~Henry David Thoreau
Thanks for coming by.
Such an interesting & informative post, thanks!! I’ve never heard of ice pancakes & I’ve never seen ice discs..
You always take such wonderful photos, do you use a Nikon or Canon?
That is a Junco b.t.w. 😉
Thank you. I use a Canon SX40 HS for landscapes, which is a “bridge” camera. That means it’s supposed to bridge the gap between DSLRs and point and shoots. It has a fixed lens that doesn’t have the reach of a DSLR. For macros I use an Olympus Stylus TG-870. It’s a very tough camera that can take a lot of abuse.
Good to see the open water. The woodpecker on that maple must have been really hungry! Seems to me like a challenging way to get your food.
Yes, but they get a lot of it!
I loved the ice formations, but I have to say that I’m sorry that you’re still seeing them, because that means that it’s cold there as it is here.
Your bird is a dark-eyed junco, often called a snowbird because they do winter in the northern parts of the US and spend summers farther north. For a small, hard to see bird, they’re generally very wary of humans, so spotting one and getting a photo is always tough, well done.
I also liked the “hobbit” hole, it’s given me an idea or two as far as natural blinds to use while in the woods if I can find something similar in the right places.
I need to get out along a river now and then, my chasing ducks has kept me going to lakes and ponds, and your post reminds me of how much I love rivers in any season.
Thanks Jerry! Yes, March has been a less than spring like month, with cold and more snow than we saw all winter. Hopefully it has run its course and will now begin to warm up.
Thanks for the junco ID. They do seem very wary. If I hadn’t seen this one fly into that bush I probably wouldn’t have seen it at all.
There are a lot of hollow trees out there. I wouldn’t be surprised if you did find one. I could sit in this one comfortably but of course I could only see in one direction.
You should visit a river. If nothing else it would be something different and you might still see a lot of waterfowl.
Lots to see in this post, Allen. I like all the different ice formations and it was interesting to find out how they are made. We had small ice discs on our pond for the first time this year.
Thank you Clare. I’m sorry you had ice discs on your pond. That means it was cold!
It was very cold but I was so excited to see the discs!
They can be very pretty when the sun shines on them. They flash different colors much like a prism would.
That sounds wonderful! We didn’t get any sun while they were in the pond, unfortunately.
Hopefully it won’t be cold enough for another try until next winter!
Thanks so much for taking me for a walk along your river. A lot to see. I was struck by your comment at how dirty the river was when you were a boy. Same here in central Maine when I was a young girl. People like to rail against regulations, and I suppose there can be a point where they stymie creativity. But without the Clean Water Act, my beloved Kennebec would not have returned to the shimmering river of its pre-industrial past. Once the Kennebec was so dirty you wouldn’t want to stick your’ big toe in it. Now, it is teaming with life and is a river that draws people to it. Success!
Thank you Laurie. Yes, I have a few anti government people who I point out the Ashuelot River to. It’s really remarkable what we can do when we really want to!
Almost seems like a miracle!
The Merrimac river was once a cess pool as well. It’s Nice to know our rivers can bounce back after being abused for years!
Yes, I agree!
Your photos make for a refreshing sight for me after a long workday! Your posts are always a treat.
Thank you Ellen. Glad I could help!
It’s nice to see your surroundings not covered by deep snow! That ice bauble is really interesting (and beautiful)!
Thanks Montucky! It’s still deep in places but it has melted quite a bit this week. Next week is supposed to be warmer so it should go fast!
I have caught up with you again, Allen. Your late winter woods are beautiful, and there is much to see! I love the ice bauble, and the water flowing like satin.
After a warmer than normal January, we had some very light, repeated snowstorms here in February, but nothing that stuck. It is green here, and trees are beginning to flower where I am, although higher elevations still have some snow. Our Pacific Chorus frogs have been serenading the night for some time now. The first skunk of the season, a big one, has wandered through the farm.
Thank you Lavinia, it’s good to hear from you again. It sounds like spring is happening there. It is here too but very slowly. We’ve had skunks out for quite a while now but no frogs yet!
Lovely. Photo #5 is truly painterly. You may not have found what you were looking for, but what a beauty! It is the time of year where the flowing waters are a balm to the spirit — I just came from listening to our stream flow in the lowest level of our little valley.
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Thank you Cynthia. I’m glad your stream hasn’t frozen over. Spring is slow in coming this year!
These are some stunning photos of ice formations and your river. Your eye for capturing the beauty and the mystery is just amazing. The large opening under the tree looks like a portal into another world. The river flowing over the rocks is wonderful. A most enjoyable walkalong with a perfect quote.
I hope you are being spared from the latest storm in your area.
Thank you Penny. I just take photos of what I find beautiful and what interests me and it seems to interest others as well.
I think this storm is going to be a miss for us. We haven’t seen a flake all day. Tomorrow morning will tell for sure though!
Nearly spring, but not quite as yet.
We’re getting there!
I love the colours of the satin water!
Thanks! They change quite a lot as the sky changes.
All those ice formations were really interesting.
Thank you Susan, I thought so too.