Turkeys Everywhere

Boston Globe: Turkeys take to cities, towns

I saw a turkey on my daily walk yesterday, along with a circling redtail hawk, a kingfisher, and plenty of crows. The turkey had just drunk from the Wachusett Reservoir and was hurrying back to a copse of trees as I came along the path.

That's Some Big Baby!

Worcester Telegram: Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game Mary Griffin and Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles pose with the eaglet.

Worcester Telegram: Video of the eagle banding

Update: Another video, this one from WBZ, who had a camera on the guy who climbed the tree, so you can see the eaglet sitting in the nest.

Worcester Telegram: Bands all here for the eagles

It’s always risky to drop in unannounced on a new family.

Pushing the envelope is when about 25 people converge on a small submarine-shaped island to view the only offspring of the first pair of eagles to have successfully nested at Wachusett Reservoir. Wednesday was the coming out party for the 4-week-plus-old eaglet who was removed from its nest and fitted with two metal leg bands that give it unique identifiers that will help track it the rest of its life.

The adult eagles took the whole affair in stride. They circled the island from time to time, but kept a distant and silent vigil. Left to deal with the humans on his own, junior proved to be a really good sport. For those of us on the island, there was more than a little drama, a dose of education and a rare chance to share a moment of pride with the state agency personnel that have helped restore the bald eagle population in Massachusetts.

Resembling a mini beaver hut, the eagle’s nest was cradled near the end of a bend formed by new growth at the top of a 60-foot white pine tree. The whole configuration leaned into the 15-mile-an-hour northeast blow churning up the reservoir on Wednesday morning.

Eagles Return to Wachusett Reservoir

An adult bald eagle soared through the air as the scientists worked on banding the eaglet.
(Mark Wilson / Globe Staff Photo)

The resurgence of the bald eagle population in the northeast continues. Today's Boston Globe has a photo gallery showing the nest built by the first pair ever to nest along the Wachusett Reservoir in Central Massachusetts.

They banded a baby eaglet from the nest so it can be tracked.

The eaglet received two new bands, an aluminum US Fish and Wildlife Service band and a colored Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife band.
(Mark Wilson / Globe Staff Photo)

Red Squirrel

Saw one of these on my morning walk along the Wachusett Reservoir. I don't see them often in New England and at first I thought it was a chipmunk, but it had no stripes and that big red tail was the giveaway.

Conservation, anyone?

Yesterday while walking around the Wachusett Reservoir I saw three mink swimming. A first for me -- I've never seen a mink that wasn't being worn as a piece of clothing. They were bobbing in the water, tiny eyes, ears & mouths, diving & having fun. I've had several great wildlife spots in the past year -- the huge red-tailed hawk that almost caused me to drive off the road in Oneonta, New York; the magestic bald eagle perched in the tree along the East Branch of the Delaware River in Margaretville, New York (again, I almost came acropper swerving into the breakdown lane for a good view); a deer standing 10 yards above me on a ridge above a trail along the Wachusett Reservoir.

Given my love of wildlife, I've joined a new organization: GoMainstream.org, a self-described "New Coalition of Conservationists". We are the true conservatives. Click on the link to join.