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Charles River

By adamg - 7/11/23 - 8:38 am
Rainbow over the Charles River

Ksenia Dunn got a good view of yesterday's rainbow over (and into!) the Charles River, along with some UFOs (OK, she says they were really just reflections from the office lights on her window).

By adamg - 7/6/23 - 9:56 am
Catbird with a berry

Mary Ellen's been watching the birds chow down on berries along the Charles River in West Roxbury the past couple of days, such as this catbird.

A cedar waxwing also eats up: Read more.

By adamg - 6/25/23 - 11:46 am
American bullfrog at Millennium Park

Mary Ellen spotted an American bullfrog at Millennium Park in West Roxbury today - from the eyes up, at any rate.

By adamg - 6/24/23 - 9:46 pm
Lots of used tennis balls

Mary Ellen spotted all these used tennis balls at the canoe launch on the Charles River at Millennium Park today. A sacrifice, or an attempt to give all the dog owners who bring their pets there something to throw into the river for them to fetch?

By adamg - 6/21/23 - 11:10 am
Muskrat grabbing some lunch along the Charles River

Mary Ellen captured this muskrat (or some other rodenty critter) chowing down along the Charles River in West Roxbury the other day.

By adamg - 6/16/23 - 3:01 pm

The Charles River Conservancy has announced its canceled tomorrow's City Splash swim event at the Esplanade due to forecast "heavy rain and potential thunderstorms" that would make swimming unsafe.

The group had set Sunday as its rain date, but it's been forced to cancel that as well, because all the rain Saturday could mean unsafe levels of potentially harmful microorganisms via pipes that still drain into the river.

By Oliver Blake - 5/18/23 - 4:01 pm
Havey Beach carriage house

Imagine this as an ice-cream stand and coffee house.

DCR has hired a landscape architect to draw up possible plans for returning Havey Beach, along the Charles River across from the VA Hospital in West Roxbury, into a place where people would actually want to go again. Read more.

By adamg - 5/16/23 - 2:13 pm
A beaver in water with some fresh greens

Mary Ellen watched this beaver at Cow Island Pond (the part of the Charles off Rivermoor Street in West Roxbury) make several trips with fresh greens the other day - so maybe bringing lunch home for the kids, rather than doing construction.

By adamg - 5/16/23 - 11:03 am
Frieze from old Mechanics Hall in honor of Machinery

The Boston Parks and Recreation Department plans to clean up the banks of the Charles River at Millennium Park by trying to rid the area of Japanese knotweed and oriental bittersweet and by removing various metal tanks and tubes that have popped up from the park's previous life as the Gardner Street city landfill. Read more.

By adamg - 5/6/23 - 9:00 pm
Rusty bridge trestles

A concerned citizen files a 311 request asking the city to do something about the rustier parts of the Grand Junction Bridge, which carries commuter-rail and Amtrak trains under the BU Bridge, before they fall on people walking or jogging along the Charles River.

By adamg - 4/10/23 - 4:54 pm
Dogs in the Charles River as a train passes by at Millennium Park

A couple of dogs jumped into the Charles River at Millennium Park this afternoon just as an inbound Needham Line train was coming through.

By adamg - 4/9/23 - 6:31 pm
Downtown Boston reflected in the Charles River

Downtown Boston and Beacon Hill reflected on the placid, largely boat-free, Charles River Basin around 11 a.m. today.

By adamg - 3/23/23 - 12:50 pm

The Charles River Conservancy has set June 17 for this year's City Splash and One-Mile Swim, during which you'll be able to jump into the Charles from the Fiedler Dock on the Esplanade. Because the event and race have proven so popular, pre-registration for time slots or to enter the race will be required, although the group has yet to set up online pages to do so.

By adamg - 3/5/23 - 7:39 pm
Maturing eagle

Mary Ellen spotted this eagle, maybe 3 to 3 1/2 years old, across the Charles from Millennium Park today. Bald eagles go fully "bald" when they're about 4 1/2 years, assuming they don't get poisoned by rodenticide first.

By adamg - 2/7/23 - 9:56 pm
Cone atop the Charles River off the Mass. Ave. bridge

Remember last year when the state used traffic cones to mark off some bike lanes on the Mass. Ave. Bridge and somebody didn't like them and tossed them onto the frozen Charles River? A roving UHub photographer discovered today that some low-energy bike-lane hater tried to replicate that, only gave up after just one cone.

By adamg - 2/5/23 - 4:50 pm
Frieze that is an homage to leather frozen along the Charles River

It'll take more than one day to melt all the ice that formed in our brief sub-zero blast. Along the Charles River in Millennium Park in West Roxbury, a one-time homage to leather from Mechanics Hall (bulldozed to make way for the Pru) remained encased in ice around 3:30 p.m. today.

The ice also snared some tree branches: Read more.

By adamg - 2/4/23 - 3:37 pm
Frozen Charles River

Josh Borrow took a walk along the insta-frozen Charles River this afternoon.

But kids, the National Weather Service reminds you to stay off the ice.

By adamg - 12/17/22 - 5:08 pm
Geese in the Esplanade lagoon

Samuel Maskell watched a flotilla of geese floating along in the Esplanade lagoon.

By adamg - 11/27/22 - 10:32 pm
Man and dog in canoe pass goose in the Charles River in Dedham

Mary Ellen spent some golden-hour time this morning along the Charles in Dedham, where she spotted a man paddling in a canoe with his dog while passing a goose.

By adamg - 11/21/22 - 9:18 am
State troopers on the Charles

Troopers in the search. Photo by Live Boston.

The Cambridge Fire Department and Live Boston report that Boston and Cambridge firefighters and police and state troopers started searching the Charles River at the Anderson Bridge at JFK Street after receiving a report of a person jumping into the water. They were still searching around 7:45 a.m.

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