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