It was an interesting day. Left the house  early so that I could be well into the Quabbin Woods before dawn. That worked out real well with watching a beautiful sunrise. Nobody told the animals that I would be early. I didn't see but a few chickadees and one hairy woodpecker.
There were many tracks to be seen. Moose,bobcat,coyote,fox,porcupine, grouse and a few mice.
This mornings hike was just over seven miles. Today's miles reached a milstone of  600  miles hiking the trails and roads of Quabbin while carrying a camera.

I was able to get a decent pic of bobcat track. I did come across two seperate sets of bobcat tracks this morning.

 Pottapaug Pond and the north east side of the reservoir are frozen with the cold spell this week,  This morning I did watch the shorline for a while in anticipation of a predator looking for a meal.

Jim

Looking out on the deck this morning and seeing a dusting of snow got things in gear fast this morning. As much as I enjoying hiking and taking pictures , I always look forward to looking for tracks. Many times this will give you the added incentive to keep hiking an area with hopes of seeing the " Track Maker "
This mornings east side hike was eventful along with the ride home. It was only a short distance when I cut the first track. This was one of four different coyote tracks this morning.

 About an hour later I came to a open spot of water on the reservoir, and watched several otters peer at me

I caught some movement off to my right and was I surprised to see five deer walk on to the ice . I was camouflaged and wind in my favor so I sat tight. I figured a predator would follow. The deer were calm.  Nothing was pushing them. They just wanted to get to the other side.I use to think that the only way a deer would venture onto the ice was to get away from something casing it. Evidently not ! I was glad to see that they adhered to the " Slow  Sign"

On the ride home I did see one mature eagle cruising low in a cornfield looking for a meal. Also saw one read tail hawk perched watching another  field and closer to home another red tail hawk riding the thermos.
Being so cold (6 degrees) this morning I didn't think I would see much but tracks.
Jim

Saturday the pickins' were slim. Not much moving in the way of wildlife, with only seeing a handful of chickadees and a pileated woodpecker. Wind stayed reasonably calm for the first few hours. I sat at waters edge for a while in hopes of seeing an eagle. None to be seen on this day

Sunday I ventured over to Quabbin Park. DCR was a little late in opening the gate so I decided to hike from Rte9 to The Enfeild Lookout.

It was an absolutely beautiful sunrise this morning. Before the suns rays broke the tree line I did see one single deer bounding away. I couldn't get a look at it. If I had to guess I would say it was a buck. The does I have been seeing in the last several weeks are in groups of 3-5.

 Typically with an early arrival  at QP you will find folks slowly riding the roads in hopes of seeing wildlife. This didn't bother the deer in the pic above. However, don't think you would of seen these deer unless you were walking.
 Big weather change coming in this week. The critters will really hunker down now!
Jim

Well had to think twice about about a hike this morning, could barely see the truck in the driveway. It didn't take long to convince myself to go. You are not going to get any photo ops sitting at home. Dawn was just setting in when I passed the gate. The plan today would be to walk slowly towards one of my favorite swamps. Snow was soft and walking was quiet.
Blankets of fog would move in and out limiting visibility. I was surprised to see nobody had walked this cart road since the last time it snowed. Great ! Hope to find some interesting tracks and maybe see a moose. This hike would give up my first set of fox tracks. In the miles hiked to date, I have not seen a grey or red fox. Continuing on the cart road showed numerous deer , several moose and an occasional coyote track. I did find what I was looking when reaching a change of hardwoods to thicker cover. A bobcat ( tracks ) had entered the side of the cart road and leaped across .
There are four tracks below. When the cat leaped and landed, the upper tracks exaggerated from the paws coming down on wet snow landed inside the first tracks.

The best bobcat tracks I have found to date were located while hiking in Southern VT a few years back.

 

Locating and identifying tracks adds another dimension to hiking and taking wildlife pictures. I am not an expert by any means, but enjoy the challenge with identifying tracks.
Jim

Damp and foggy hitting the trail this morning. Today's hike would take me to a gate that I haven't been to in a while.  It wasn't long before  several deer tracks had crossed the road. The snow was soft and wet , perfect for detailed tracks. Walking slowly, I would watch the distant woods for sign of movement while keeping an eye on the road for tracks. Not very far past the deer tracks a moose had also walked up the road.  Good sign!
The road followed a oak ridge  down into a hemlock stand. Looking down and seeing this bobcat track heightened my awareness.

When reaching the reservoir a flock of mallards flew from a small stream. Not much to see  but fog looking out over the reservoir. I continued on for a short distance. My plan today was to settle into a small iced over swamp in hopes of a coyote or a bobcat walking the edge looking for a meal.

Not today. Jim

 

 

On the way back to my truck I did get a pic of a winter regular

I am fortunate to have a son that works for MFW and invites me along on some of the neat things that he does. This eagle banding exercise took place at Wachusett Reservoir in the spring of 2009. The banding effort is labor intensive with detailed attention given to proper knots and ropes for the climber . When the nest is finally reached extreme care is used with removing the eagle chick(s). Once on the ground each chick is measured , weighed and a DNA sample taken then banded.

Having the opportunity to hold one of the eagle chicks while it was being banded was nothing less than an " Awesome Experience"
Jim

Weatherman was a bit off this morning, It was suppose to be overcast with 30% chance of snow showers. With the light snow and little accumulation would make for a good hike on one of the plowed east side  roads  This would make it easy finding and identifying tracks in the snow. I really enjoy hitting the trail at first light.

 

Walking slowly and pausing occasionally did not present any photo ops until I reached the water. About 100yds in front of me, two otters played. It was comical to watch.

 

 

Getting a few distant pics I moved slowly in attempt to close the gap. The otters wanted no part of me watching ,and slipped into the water and were gone. Hoping they would return I hustled and settled in to within about 100ft from where I last saw them. About twenty minutes passed and up comes one head then the second. Both otters scanned and thoroughly looked at the area I was previously standing at. Comfortable that any danger had passed ,the two otters came up out of the hole  ate fish and relaxed, I was wearing winter camo and standing  motionless next to some drift wood .  I went undetected close to an hour. Every once in a while I would push the shutter on the camera. Looking at this next pic would suggest that I had been bagged !

 
I cropped the pic to bring it in closer.  Using a polarized filter certainly would helped in this enviroment
With my hike in no animal tracks had crossed the road. On the hike out around 10:30AM, I crossed six sets of squirrel tracks and two deer.
Jim

The northeast side of the reservoir made for a nice hike this morning. The sunrise added to the day. Wind was almost nonexistent until the sun came up. Then it got breezy at times. No photo opportunities this morning. I did see where an otter came out of the water and ventured into the hardwoods with coyote tracks following it. While sitting on the shoreline I did spot one distant eagle and several seagulls. On the hike back two mature bald eagles flew  out of a white pine not too far in front of me. I readied the camera in anticipation of a close pic with them flying. Both eagles soared just inside the wood line which prevented any pics.
A few years back I had the opportunity with participating in a spring eagle banding project on Wachusett Reservoir. I will dig the pics out and share in the next couple of days.

A  pic from this morning.
Jim

There was some confusion with the eagle leg band number identification that was communicated earlier. The band  below belonged to a immature eagle banded on May 23,2012 in the Gate 43 area. The eagle weighed 4.5 lbs and had 1 sibling.

 

Jim

 

Was I surprised to see the temperature at 30 degrees this morning. Put my camera , hiking equipment snack and water together and out the door at 6:00 AM. I headed to another east side gate that I haven't hiked in a month or so. I figured it would of been traveled heavy with the holidays and all. I couldn't be more wrong. Since the snow Saturday night only two hikers waked in about a mile and turned around. Where there tracks ended , critter tracks started. In my five mile hike I crossed over eight or ten different deer tracks. Most were traveling in groups of two, three porcupine, one fox, four or five coyote  and one I wasn't certain maybe an otter.
I had the place to myself with comfortable temperatures and little wind .
Well the frequency of hiking with the holidays has come to the end with today's hike.  I manged to get out seven times over the last two weeks. Unfortunately ( Thankful For A Job) back to the grind tomorrow. Will have to wait till weekends to hike.
With the cold front comimg in tonight will freeze up most open water
Happy New Year
Jim

I am guessing an otter or possum with tail. Will research later