The sap is rising, the ice is thawing, and next Sunday morning at 4:39 a.m. the sun will cross the celestial equator into northern skies. Meanwhile, the folks out in Concord are fighting again the never-ending battle of Walden Pond.
Articles with Conservation
Walden Pond, Concord MA • Photo by Pablo Sanchez Martin (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by Calibas (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Losing the forest war
There is no better time than April for walking in the New England woodlands. The weather is warm, the snow is gone. Winter has cut down the briar and brush, opening up places that in a few week’s time will be made impassable by new growth.
Gavia immer, or Common Loon • Photo by John Picken (CC BY 2.0)
For the loon, a cry of distress
In autumn Thoreau listened for the sound of the loon on Walden Pond. He called it “a wild sound, heard afar and suited to the wildest lake.” Another time he heard “a long-drawn unearthly howl, probably more like a wolf than any bird.” We need, said Thoreau, “the tonic of wildness.” The loon’s voice was part of that tonic.