After waiting for something to happen along the shoreline of one of my favorite beaver ponds, and enjoying the peace and quiet with no bugs,,, IT finally happened !
Let the season begin! A cow moose with her yearling bull wandering around North Quabbin and stumbled into one of my trail cameras. Quite a surprise.
A rare western cattle egret hung around Hunts Farm on RT 202 in Orange for a couple days earlier this week. This was a new one for me. A striking male in breeding plumage. He’s gone today.
I found a small flock of green wing teal last week. These tiny ducks seem to be getting harder and harder to find.
A pair of male wood ducks butting heads over a female thats just out of the photograph. Springtime is here !
Thanks to a tip from a friend of mine in Gardner I was able to get these photographs of NS train B-101 Ayer MA to Chicago. It had a special guest sandwiched in between the 2 ponies. It was a blue, Central Maine & Quebec RR engine. NS owns it but leaves it in its former color scheme.
This guy was looking for lumber for the nest. Spring is here and great blue herons waste no time rebuilding what the winter has done to their nests. They use the same nests year after year.
Released on March 18, 2024. OUT NOW. If you would like one they are $28 shipping and tax included. Contact me thru this web page for details.
A pair of mute swans doing their mating dance on the Connecticut River in the early morning.
A pair of hooded merganser males trying to out compete the charm to win the ladies!
Seven out of a flock of about 200 ring neck ducks this morning putting about one of the many local ponds that have loads of them on each pond.
First moose of the spring! She was standing in the woods and saw me headed towards her on the trail. Her curiosity got her and she walked out onto the path and started coming straight at me. I was 150 yds away. She suddenly stopped, slowly looked around and wandered into the woods where she was headed. Awesome!
First otter this spring! Glad they are out and about without ice everywhere..
Train B 101 heading west thru Orange heading from Ayer to Chicago… I dont ever have to worry about spooking them out of the brush!
It will probably be another few months before these guys show them selves and come out from their winter feeding areas. This was taken last autumn in a field of dead goldenrod. Ive seen him before. Note the tear in his right ear.
I found these 2 otters fishing in a small hole in the ice on a small beaver pond close to my home this morning. Always enjoy these guys!
A calm winter morning on the Quabbin Reservoir… The large mountain in the background is Russ Mountain. The first eagles to nest in Massachusetts since 1906 nested there in 1987. See my Voyagers, Visitors and Home book for the full story.
I found this eastern coyote with an orange tinged pelage cruising the ice in New Salem this morning. Its been about 5 years since Ive seen one like this. The last orangish one I photographed was about two miles from this one. A payoff after a 2 hour wait in the woods.
While bushwhacking thru the northern Quabbin I found this guy digging for some greens he found in a large patch of Japanese Barberry. I didn't see him until he looked up.
Our female cardinal made an uncharacteristic appearance alone midmorning to see if the feeder guy was around....he was !
Ive always loved trains. When it’s tough to get into the woods I can always find trains. This is Norfolk Southern train #B-101. 6500 feet long passing thru Millers Falls, MA on its way to Chicago from Ayer, MA. The late afternoon sun was perfect!
My happy clan! I had sled dogs for 15 years and loved every minute of it….. There’s nothing like standing behind between 9 and 12 dogs all silently running thru quiet wooded trails…… This photo was taken by Lisa Falgren on Lake Chocura in Ossipee NH in the late 1970’s.
Yesterday I bumped into another of my old friends... Like most Massachusetts bull moose, his antlers have fallen off. How do I know this guy? Ive been seeing him each year for at least 4 years. He has 2 distinguishable notches in his right ear. Possibly old battle scars from other bulls in the fall ruts of past years.
Our resident barred owl we see almost every day in our yard…. I couldn’t resist this shot today. It sat for 3 hours!
A great way to start 2024. This resident pair of bald eagles at the power canal in Turners Falls, MA chirping at each other in the morning sun.
MERRY CHRISTMOOSE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. MAY THE MOOSE BE WITH YOU IN 2024….. DALE
Dark mornings are great to look around local field edges for these barred owls hunting. This guy was in a field in New Salem a few days ago.
Right place, right time!
I ran into a pack of coyotes this morning. This one stayed around to check me out while the rest blew town !
Surprise ! Early this morning I found this female moose just standing in the road looking around, and out popped a large bull !
Heres a change ! A white tail deer instead of a bull moose !
No words for this guy…..Another Quabbin beauty. November 1st, 2023
The continuation of the fish fight from the photo you will encounter next
Cape Breton bald eagles fighting over a fish one was carrying in its talons. “What’s mine is mine, and what’s your is mine”.
Dont you just want to scratccccch between her ears ?
Bears are bulking up for the coming winter. This one was intent of scarfing up something on the ground that really kept his interest. He had no clue I was in the trail watching with my telephoto lens.
Sunrise from Neils Harbor, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada from last week on my 2 weeks stay. It poured quite a few days while I was there.
I took this photo this morning of a cow, in the fog. When I got it onto my computer screen and cropped down, I noticed the large bull along the right side of this photograph and he was looking for love !
This young whipper-snapper was standing in the road this morning as I rounded the corner. He then just wandered off into the swamp.
I celebrated Labor Day by laboring away over a hot camera taking this picture of this boss bull moose at sunrise ! :)
Great egret, flying right at me on the CT River. Nikon 600mm lens with a Nikon Z9 camera…..
I found this doe feeding early this morning. I was hoping the cold weather got the deer and moose moving about. You can see their coats are already starting to turn to their winter fur.
Bears everywhere! This could be the same bear I photographed in the road 2 weeks ago. But it was 2 miles away from here on the same road. You will see it if you click ahead 6 photos. What do you think ?
I found this medium size black bear eating blackberries with a cub I couldn’t see until it climbed a large pine tree. Both bears were soaked from the previous nights heavy rain.
How these birds can cram so much into their beaks is beyond me let alone catch one with another bug still in its beak. This song sparrow has a caterpillar and a dragon fly. (taken at 25 feet away with s Nikon 600mm f4 lena)
I found this common grackle hoarding these dragon flies yesterday. It must have a nest full of chicks but how do they catch them with a mouthful already?
Even the great blue herons are having problems with the heat and humidity today…
This bull moose was having a bad day with thousands of moose flies buzzing around him.
I found this killdeer feeding on the lawn at the Millers River Riverside Park in Orange a few days ago. These plovers are fun to watch and I dont usually get this close.
Here is an ear tagged bear that MassWildlife tagged. He was hanging around a spot near the edge of a dirt rd in New Salem not to far from my house. He was very obliging to me as I opened the car door stood up with my camera and made this photo from 40 yards away. with a 400mm lens.
Green Heron, getting ready for more hunting.
This male indigo bunting was singing his heart out but he looks a little ragged towards the end of breeding season!
Today I found this female Killdeer and her 2 chicks feeding at a local airport where she nested. I would say the chicks are about a month old and they run like they are jet powered!
I heard a snort this morning that sounded like it was very close to me. I slowly looked down the shoreline of the pond and this is who I saw…. staring me down!
For the second time this week I have found a sow black bear with cubs up a tree!
A male humpback whale lunge feeding 25 miles north of Boston out on the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
Another reason to get up and out before sunrise. I watched this large male eastern coyote hunting for mice for about 30 minutes. He didn’t seem to mind me being along the side of the field. Finally he wandered off into the woods.
I spotted this porcupine eating his breakfast way up in the trees yesterday. He just stared at me as I took a few photos and left him to his business of eating fresh leaves just popped out the last few days.
Nothing like a male wood duck swimming right by with not being spooked!
The local bird house inspector made an appearance in our yard a few days ago.
This bobcat image was taken with a 500 mm Nikon lens and camera from our kitchen window. It was about 30 feet out in the yard sitting on a log pile. I only had the 500 in the house and it was too much!
An immature bald eagle drives female great blue heron off of her nest in the early nesting season.
An immature bald eagle sits in a great blue herons nest and all the female heron can do watch. This eagle tore through the heronry for about 7 minutes then left without doing any harm.
Early morning waves from the resident male Canada goose.
The great blue herons just keep on adding sticks the nests.
I got a surprise this morning while going thru the town of Orange. As I crossed the railroad tracks I looked up and saw two black vultures gliding around. I pulled into the court house parking lot just in time to see them land on the court house chimney.
This morning I stumbled upon this red shouldered hawk watching out over a wetland for voles or mice. He was so focused on his food that he never batted an eyelash (feather?) while I took photographs of him at work.
Here is a photograph of a ring neck duck, actually showing his ring, which can be hard to see at times. I love this time of year because they are all over the place, then they disappear as quick as they arrive. I see them nesting in small ponds in northern Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island.
Todays great find was a fisher (they are not cats) feeding on their favorite food, a porcupine. Note the quills in the mouth of this large male and one stuck in the side of his cheek.
I found a small flock of bluebirds hunting for insects around a small bog that had some open water one day earlier this week. Here is one of them…
Pro photo tip of the day: Always take a snack. And not to feed the animals ☺️. After two or three hours of freezing to death, or being eaten alive by bugs open the snack package. Sure as shootin as soon as you get your gloves off, turned off your camera, taken your focus off the animals and taken a big bite, something will suddenly appear either running or flying right by you.
I felt the evil stare from this mute swan from 100 yards away!
Early morning Portland Maine to East Deerfield MA freight train heading west thru Orange MA.
Looking down on the north Quabbin watershed over Hillmans Orchard in New Salem, Massachusetts. The apple trees are all snoozing away the winter. :)
This thing belongs to CSX Railways. I found it in Royalston, MA. Its name is 426 and its 3,250 feet in length and it’s also from Chicago, Il. Its not lost :). It’s heading to Ayer Ma.
I cant resist photographing trains and have always done it. This train was headed to Portland Maine from East Deerfield, MA on the CSX Northern New England branch on December 26th, 2022 at 8AM in Millers Falls MA.
I found this great blue heron busily feeding on minnows this morning along the Connecticut River. I watched him for about an hour and 15 minutes. In that time he swallowed approximately 40 to 50 small minnows and totally ignored me taking photos (557 to be exact) :)
They is the same owl you will see in the next photo, only today, a week later in the same location!
Spectacular Quabbin sunrise ! 11/27/22.
This turkey vulture flew out of a tree I was standing under and landed about 60 yards away. They open their wings to gather heat from the sun on cold mornings.
Surprise ! From 1971 until 1986 I raised and raced sled dogs all around the Northeastern US. Here I am training a 6 dog team in a race with training rigs in Royalston MA in the early 1980’s.
I was watching a pair of cedar waxwings building a nest when part of it started to fall. A few minutes later they were back building.
I watched as this pileated woodpecker flew in to a small dead tree on the shore across from me in a local beaver pond. Forty five minutes and lots of wood chips ripped out and ants eaten he left. Look close and you can see his tongue!
I found this 4 1/2 year old bald eagle watching a flock of ducks this afternoon. Note the beak almost full yellow as well as his head will be fully white this summer.
This pair of eagles stay on their territory year around…. from 1/20/22
This bumble bee was taking his time with this flower so I tried out my new Nikon 60mm micro lens.. what do ya think?
Quabbin Valley moon over New Salem. 4/11/17