Fall Transition

The Quabbin woods were extremely quite this morning. Song  birds have moved south. Winter birds were also scarce. I did see a pileated woodpecker , several blue jays and handful of chickadees. I ventured down to a small  swamp as dawn set in. I did see  a buck scrape. Bear sign was no where to be found.

I hiked over to Rattlesnake Hill then back out to the truck. GPS read six miles for this hike.

Jim

Lots Of Tracks

Nice crisp morning for hiking. Today's hike took me to Gate 27 in the NW region of the reservoir.
Easy walking . The cart road runs parallel to the reservoir and will take you as far as Gate 22. After several  miles I took a cart road down to the reservoir and followed the shoreline back to the 26 road intersection.

The water level is down which made for easy walking. I did see several immature loons. A muddy area held the tracks of a variety of animals. Bear , raccoon , moose and coyote tracks were easy to identify. I sure have put a lot of miles on the last month with hopes of getting a picture of a moose.
Tomorrow I head back to my favorite east side gates hiking.

Jim

Drove over to gate 8 this morning. With the close of the fishing season last week made for a nice quiet hike this morning. Didn't take long with the gradual decent to lose the noise of Rte 202. Tracks of where a single moose walked the road gave anticipation of maybe seeing a moose this morning.

Not to be. The reservoir was fairly calm, I did see one mature bald eagle and several other raptors that I could not identify.




Been a while since driving by Pelham Lookout during the day. DCR has put up a nice sign

Jim

Hiking Has Been Great !

I took Friday off  from work in hopes of putting a few miles on the ole' hiking boots. It was a beautiful day for hiking. Mammal sightings have been far and few. Food is abundant which minimizes there travel . Bear scat and puke was in the usual pocketed areas in my 13 mile day . I walked some of the northwest shoreline and did capture a pic of a

                                                                        Greater Yellow Legs
Reviewing my bird books I am hoping I identified the above bird accurately. Interesting reading about it, Typically they are one of the first shore birds to arrive in the northeast . They are also the first to leave in late June and July. This bird is three months behind the average with departing New England.

This morning I headed out early for a morning of hiking at a northeast gate

 Hiked 8 miles today not 'seeing much.  Did hear a barred owl ,  several loons and a pileated woodpecker.

Jim

Bits and Pieces

Not much going on Saturday morning with wildlife opportunities so I decided to hike a few of the roads on the west side. I parked at Gate 25  hiked over to Gate 24,then down to Gate 22. Not a lot of miles  by any means. I just wanted to mark them " Hiked" on my map.

 

I drove over to Gte 19/20/21 just to get a look. You can't hike Gte 21 out to Prescott Peninsula, but you can hike 21A back to Gate 22

This morning I hiked a northwest gate hoping again for a moose. No luck, but I did  see a doe feeding. 
Jim

Not A Lot Going On This Morning

Dispite the dismal morning I did get some hiking in today. I headed out to my favorite eastside gate. The rain let up giving way to a moderate drizzle. Wildlife pic opportunities in these conditions is typically good for me. Bear sign continues to be consistant. Didn't take long before coming upon a pile of bear puke.

Over the next mile or so bear scat was consistent. Probability on my part was high in anticipation of getting a glimpse of a bear this morning. Not to be today !
Oh well it gives me something to look forward to next week

Jim

Plane Wreck

Very quiet , other than the typical birds and small  mammals there were  no photo opportunities ,so I hiked to the plane wreck. Been a while since my last visit. DCR has cleaned up the tree's that were on the cart road.

On the hike back I found where a number of turtle eggs had been dug up.

Jim