This male wood duck knew I was up in the woods but couldn't see me !! 3/29/16
If you've ever tried to sneak up on wood ducks this was a cool bit of magic ! 3/29/16
Thirteen wood ducks came zipping over me this morning heading north over the Reservoir. Quite a pleasant surprise at 5:50 AM ! 5/8/15
Zoom Zoom, fast flying ducks. Its said they can fly at 45 miles per hour! 4/22/15
Found all over the Quabbin ponds and rarely seen on the main Reservoir. They nest in tree cavities. Beautiful ducks but very hard to sneak up on. I spotted this pair about 150 feet up sitting in this tree. 4/26/15
Wood ducks can be found almost everywhere there is a small woods pond at Quabbin. If you can sneak up on them, you can sneak up on anything ! 4/22/15
A different female wood duck with 7 ducklings putting along the same pond from one side to the other. 6/22/15
I discovered this female wood duck today with what seems like 11 chicks that I would say are just 4 to 5 days out of the nest! Quabbin watershed 6/20/15
A female wood duck watches after her 7 ducklings in one of Quabbins many beaver ponds. 6/25/15
The rain kept me inside for a day and a half. I finally went out and it "rained on my parade" of ring necked ducks ! 4/12/16
Canada geese dropping out of the fog along the Quabbin shoreline. I love the morning fog at Quabbin. You never know what will drop out of the sky !! 8/23/16
Here are three ring necked ducks, a female and 2 males. You can see the brownish rings which they get their name from. They will all be leaving for the northern parts soon. Very few nest in Massachusetts but they are very common during spring and fall migrations.
Here is a large family of 31 common mergansers including the female This is called brood amalgamation or creching. Some females will just leave their chicks with another brood and go off fishing for a while. Some will just go off leaving another female to raise e their family. Quabbin Reservoir. 7/11/15
This female wood duck flew in about 50 feet to the left of me and landed and I was 10 feet away from my camera and tripod. I didnt think I'd be able to get to it without scaring her away but it worked out... 7/2/16
They are common at Quabbin during migration, but tend to stay on the large waters.
Very common in spring and fall migration at Quabbin.
I watched this Canada goose take a bath this morning. A good day for it .....5/20/16
Ringed-neck duck taking off….
A small duck that can be found at Quabbin in the migrations. This was taken in the west branch of Fever Brook. 4/7/15
A male mallard duck comes in for a landing along the shore of the Connecticut River in Turners Falls. MA. I think mallards are a real beautiful duck. 2/10/16
Mallards blasting over a swamp. I love watching ducks fly !
Family night out..... Quabbin style 5.17.16
I caught this male mallard taking a bath and then preening. He was so busy he never heard me sneaking up on him.
Every small pond at Quabbin has a pair or two of mallards and Canadian geese.
Early morning fog at Quabbin and common mergansers. 4/22/15
The wild hairdo is an easy way to identify the female common merganser by her profile. 4/15/15
A pair of wood ducks in the early morning sunshine in a small beaver pond on the Quabbin Reservoir watershed. 5/12/16
Its really hard to get the green color to show its brilliance. After many tries I hit the right light and had the right settings in the camera. 4/15/15
Here's a unique photo of a male wood duck sitting in a tree in the early morning sun in a beaver pond in the northern Quabbin watershed taken from about 200 yards away. 5/11/16
I got a neat surprise this morning..Out popped a female wood duck in the path in front of me. That was surprise enough, but then out popped 14 ducklings the size of ping pong balls right behind her. Ill bet they weren't but 24 to 36 hours old ... 6/4/16
A morning cruise by the old apartment building. Remember the goose sitting on top of the beaver lodge nest? Here she is with seven chicks swimming by the lodge this morning. The chicks are 2 weeks old today. 5/10/16
"Are you awake yet? He's back again, doesn't that guy ever sleep?"
Here is the same female with her chicks 10 days later and she had added 20 more chicks ! She now has 50 chicks with her.. an uncommon condition that occurs in common mergansers called brood-amalgamation. 7/20/15
Here the female common merganser doubles as a ferry at the Quabbin Reservoir. 7/11/15
Another common merganser mother and chicks we found while doing the Quabbin loon census along the shore of Quabbin. 7/9/15
Early this morning I found the first batch of wood duck chicks of this year following mom around all over the beaver pond! Little yellow puff balls. 6/1/16
The same merganser chicks waiting for the sun to come out all crowd onto rock to preen and complain about Red Sox loosing season. 8/17/15
Here is another family of common merganser ducks resting with mom today along the Quabbin shore. Baby birds popping up everywhere! 5/31/16
I was in the woods watching the world go by on the shore of Quabbin when this common mergansers came steaming by. 9/4/15
Memorial Day means lots of baby birds starting to appear. Here's a female common merganser with her 9 chicks in tow along the Quabbin shoreline. Nothing as cute as these little buggers ! 5/27/16
I was sitting along the shore doing my best rocks imitation the I spotted these two female common mergansers headed right for me.... they landed almost in my lap ! 11/24/15
Two female common goldeneye ducks take wing as the sun rises on 2016 at the Quabbin Reservoir. 1/1/16
Canada geese are busily sweeping the bottom of shallow Lake Rohunta for their meal...... 12/23/15
Lots of common mergansers flying about the northern Quabbin these days. 12/1/15
Common merganser chicks are getting bigger each week. They patrol the shore everyday and its fun to watch them go. 8/23/15
A lesser scaup duck was in with a big flock of mallard ducks and Canada geese today on the Connecticut River. I just happened to spot this little guy in the mob of geese.
A pair of hooded mergansers putt along in the Quabbin between fishing and preening in the early morning sun. 2/27/16
"All I said was I was getting sick of looking like Mrs. Frankenstein" !!
Nothing like a good shakedown to settle the feathers back in place after preening. Hooded merganser. Quabbin Reservoir, 2/27/16
Here is a male hooded merganser. These great little ducks are everywhere here in the north Quabbin area as migration for ducks is in full swing. These guys like small ponds and can be found with wood ducks and ring necks. The will nest in Massachusetts. 3/19/16
A pair of black ducks on one of the finally opened ice free beaver ponds in the Quabbin watershed. 2/29/16
This golden eye duck seems to have something to say to these Canada geese on the CT. River this afternoon. This is probably the equivalent to kicking sand in the bigger guys faces! 2/26/16
Here is one more Canada goose shot of the interloper being driven out of the pond that was already claimed. 3/13/16
Canada geese have begun defending their nesting ponds. It gets pretty brutal with the looser finally being driven out of the pond he was overlooking. I suspect he was also trying to steal a mate! 3/13/16
"Look, up in the air, Its the Navy's Blue" .... err ring necked ducks! They are all over the place this morning. They are very common during migration both in the spring and fall, but do not nest here. In this photo you can see the ring around their neck you very seldom see. 3/11/16
Common mergansers are everywhere right now during migration at Quabbin. The males are bright white with green heads an orange beaks. Here is a flock flying along being lead by a female merganser who is cheering them on as they fly. 3/10/16
Harlequin ducks. These little speedsters come down from the great white north to spend the winters along the New England coast. This was taken in Ogunquit Maine today, 3/7/16. You gotta love these little beauties. Four males and one female.
Mute swans are not very common at Quabbin but are along the CT. River. These beautiful swans chase all other waterfowl off of their nesting areas. 2/10/16
A male horned grebe sits after preening in the early morning Quabbin sun. These little guys are rare in the summer but can be found in both spring and late fall migrations. 5/22/15
Heres another shot of the male horned grebe. They are very dainty looking birds don't you think ? 5/22/15
A flock of bufflehead ducks flying along in front of the Windsor Dam early this morning.... 11/14/15
Ive been watching this female wood duck and her 7 ducklings for about 6 weeks now. They were very small late in the season but look like they will make it OK. 8/7/16
Part of a large 100+ flock of early morning Canada geese heading out from their night time roost at Quabbin to spend the day at Hunts Dairy Farm fields in Orange MA 8/24/16
The Canadian Air Force doing their maneuvers over the Quabbin this morning. 9/7/16
Canada geese fly above the fog and in the early morning sun makes for great light conditions to photograph birds flying. My favorite time of day. 8/24/16
The ponds are opening up from ice and now the ducks are returning. Hooded mergansers. 3/10/17
This is a greeting I received from a couple friends of mine this morning at about 7AM. These 2 geese have been nesting in the same pond for 3 years that I am aware of. This is the big male who has a band on his left leg. They always nest on one of 4 beaver lodges in their pond. It was almost as if he was trying to remember me !
The shore patrol at Quabbin ! Hooded merganser with 2 black ducks wander along the expanse of open shoreline now the ice has all but disappeared at the Quabbin. 4/3/17
Canada geese are all fighting each other while trying to secure territories for the coming nesting season. Here are a couple of them I found this morning. 4/16/17
This male wood duck came flying in today and landed smack in front of me right on cue! great to see these guys again. Spring is here for sure. 4/14/17
In my opinion so far this years been a banner year for wood duck chicks. Right now the beaver ponds are crawling with them getting ready to fly off into their future. This morning I watched these 4 preening together on "the preening stump" that they use from time to time. 7/18/17
While waiting for the herons to show up with breakfast this morning this young male wood duck chick came chugging along all by himself, hopped up on a mud hummock and stretched, then was on his way again ! It was quite amusing! 7/8/17
The common merganser numbers are building at Quabbin. In past years I've counted huge 500 plus numbers on the annual Christmas Count... these guys went zipping right over me yesterday morning.......
After 3 weeks not out because of health issues with me and a hospital stay of 12 days of my wifes, I finally got out today to check my favorite beaver pond and some of the local residents have returned!
Harlequin ducks again leaving in a hurry !
Last week off the coast of Maine I found these harlequin ducks. They are arctic circle ducks that spend their winters in New England along the rocky shores feeding in the tide crashes in the rocks.
A surprize guest this morning ! A cute pie-billed grebe in a small abandoned beaver pond in North Quabbin watershed was hanging with a green winged teal in the early sun. 4/13/18
A good find this afternoon in a large pasture in New Salem. About 45 snow geese (the white ones) along with a rare blue phase of the snow geese.
Wood duck chicks are getting bigger by the day. This family pulled up on a rock in front of me this morning and spent about 25 minutes preening and snoozing in the warm sun. You gotta love ducklings….
Ive been watching these geese for over a 2 months. They made a nest on a beaver lodge a little over three months ago and this morning they had 5 chicks ! She was sitting on eggs yesterday so these birds have their first day on the water today ! 5/8/17
It seems like there are wood duck chicks everywhere this year. This particular pond had 4 broods with at least 40 chicks between them. There’s 11 here with this mother.
A female hooded merganser drifted by me yesterday with her 10 chicks. She stopped right in front of me so I couldn’t move without scaring them. I was however able to nab a couple images.
This morning at Quabbin I took this image of a flock of 12 common mergansers zipping along the surface. As I looked close at the image on my computer I noticed 2 adult bald eagles in the image also. Can you see them ?
Canada geese taking off from the power canal in Turners Falls. This is just a small section of about 100 geese that took of and flew higher and higher, circled the canal and headed south. I love seeing them leave but it always makes me sad they are leaving.
Ducks and geese are flying around the Quabbin trying to find some open water. There are lots of it down in the southern end and open spots up north are getting bigger each day with all the warm weather.
A rare sight any day in MA would be one tundra swan, but this week a flock of 19 are hanging out along the CT. River in Turners Falls. The swans are rarely seen in MA.
Here is a Redhead that was in the same place as the canvasback duck a few weeks ago coming up next.
I found this canvasback duck on the CT. River in Turners Falls, MA…. a pretty good find.
I found these 5 harlequin ducks bobbing near the rocks in Ogunquit Maine yesterday. They winter along the New England coast and are spectacular to see. They are smaller than wood ducks.
Ring-necked ducks blast off first thing in the morning. Probably on their way migrating north.
This female Canada Goose spent all night on the nest and probably has 26 for 27 more nights to go. It was quite dark this morning when I hiked in to check on them. She was aware of me but didn’t move at all. I took a couple shots at about 40 to 50 yards away with my 500mm telephoto lens and left as soon as possible without her moving….perfect !
Let's have a big YAY for Mrs. Wood Duck !
I spotted this batch this morning at about 7:15AM. They were coming out close to the shore amongst the bushes and if you look closely you can see the egg tooth on the beak on some of the ducklings. This helps the bird crack thru the egg shell to get out easier. These usually fall off within hours of hatching out. I'll bet these guys hatched yesterday and have not been bobbing in the water to long! It made my day...... :)
A 2 month old wood duck chick came wandering along the shore looking for mom and it’s brother and sisters, which it finally found….
The male Canada goose defends his pond from another goose that dropped in. What a bad idea on his part!
Ring neck ducks set down in the northern Quabbin for a break from migration. I can along and took their pictures ! heh heh !
Common mergansers zipping along the shoreline of the Quabbin Reservoir one day last week…. they remind me of jets in formation.
To me, every day is Christmas. I never know what present Mother Nature will send me. Today it was these cool littlet hooded mergansers cruising a beaver pond.
Even the pond critters are practicing social distancing !! :). (for now!!)
The Quabbin Canada geese are getting restless……
An Arctic goose has taken up residency at the Turners Falls power canal along the CT River. It has been there about 3 weeks and is hanging with Canada geese. It took me 7 trys but I finally found the bugger !
Spring is coming and so are DUCKS.. !
I found an Easter wood duck today and the lighting was perfect, and the duck actually stayed in one place for more that 10 seconds !!
Little known fact. Mallard ducks practice yoga every morning :)
Mute swans spending the winter at the power canal along the CT River in Turners Fall MA. It was a great day to use the Nikon Z9. What a great camera that is !
Baby wood ducks everywhere !!