Hudson Watershed Delights

Some friends say I’m easily excited. That’s a good thing, right? Yesterday I was ecstatic to finally see the peregrine falcon soaring around the Union County Courthouse. Then, this morning in the Times and on Yahoo I read about beavers in the Bronx! Here’s the beaver that almost jumped into my kayak last summer in New Hampshire: narrow wetland creek and big beaver.

Beavers and I share an interest in woodcarving though we have vastly different aesthetics.

There are areas of progress. This barge on the Hackensack supplies a powerplant in Jersey City with coal. According to the Waterkeeper folk, this coal-fired power station is about the cleanest-burning one anywhere.

But I’m certain late-21st century folks are going to damn us about the environmental degradation we’ve wreaked with styrofoam and plastic. Look around at bags in trees, bags on fences, bags everywhere. Beavers might dam us too.
Besides the delight of the beaver, check out this site, which I just added to my blogroll. Scroll all the way to the bottom: it’s my confirmation of something else in the Bronx… across the river from Riker’s. A prison ship, a delightful cruise. Anyone add to what the Tug44 folk say?

All photos by Will Van Dorp.