Birding Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs

I did some birding with Alan today and headed off to Quabbin Reservoir hoping to see the reported Caspian Tern's that have been spotted there recently. I would have my old camera with me as I am having problems loading photos from my regular camera onto my computer. I took a bunch of photos with my backup camera which is horrible to begin with, and I come home to upload them and those won't upload either so now I think there is something wrong with my computer vs my cameras which means trouble shooting which I hate. Anyhow, enough woe is me. I had to get creative and use photos from my visit this November here as well as some of Alan's. The photo above is of the reservoir this past November.

Photo by Alan Marple ;-)

Alan and I headed off toward the water and would see and hear quite a few birds which was nice as I have been doing some birding on my own, but not blogging due to no camera, but I haven't done any woodland birding lately so it was really nice to hear the various warblers including Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Ovenbirds and of course the Veery's and Hermit Thrush. We would also see a few butterflies and other insects like this Atlantic Bluet Damselfly.
As well as this nifty photo Alan took of a Bull Frog and I never tire of seeing frogs so it was nice to see him on display. We would finally get to the water and scan around the area with the phragmites for about 20 minutes or so. We wouldn't see any sign of the terns which was a bummer because if we got it we wanted to see it cross on the Worcester County line vs the Franklin County line but we were not having any luck so ventured further into Franklin County hoping for better luck there. We would spend an additional 20 minutes there and be unsuccessful.

Photo from this past November

I would be desperate at this point because I haven't gotten a new bird in well over a month now and saw a bird in the water that I wanted to bad to be a Red-breasted Merganser even though I know they are not back yet, so I would tell Alan to take a look at it and of course it isn't a merg, but I was desperate and wanted it to be one and while it looked like a male loon, it very well could have been a male merganser with the funny hair do it looked like it had from afar. Needless to say, it was the Common Loon of course, and I would have to accept the fact that the Ring-necked Pheasant will be on my eBird list as last bird seen for at least another week. :-p. I am now convinced the pheasant is an omen of some sort and am thinking of either getting the pheasant out of the way first thing next year around local hunting sites hoping some survived ;-) or not counting them at all, because the curse is getting old!

Despite not seeing the terns it was nice to get out and do some birding around Quabbin and see the other signs of nature including this very pretty Water Lilly Alan got a photo of.

We would decide to head toward Clinton and one of the gates of Wachusett Reservoir hoping to see the Yellow-billed Cuckoo Donna and Bart saw last week and while we would hear plenty of birds along the way, we never did get the cuckoo, so once again I was cursed by the Pheasant!

To add insult to injury, I would come back from swimming at a friends house this afternoon and Alan would send me an email letting me know that both Caspian Terns were spotted today along the Quabbin Reservoir and in the morning no less, which is when we were there! I am telling you its a curse all, and it has to be broken so look out this weekend. I just don't know where we will find any new birds because they are getting a little harder to find, but it's fun to try it none the less!

Take care all.