Wachusett Reservoir (10/29)

The weekend was mostly a wash out but I did get over to Wachusett Reservoir for a short hike on Sunday morning. To be expected, the day after a major storm it was particularly windy. I started over near River Rd. The wind made it really hard to hear any birds, but I did have a couple of nice sightings. Small groups of Dark-eyed Juncos huddled together in the bushes and I found a couple of Yellow-rump Warblers high in the trees. The sunny spots were havens for Chickadees and Blue Jays. And I did see one Northern Flicker before it escaped into the evergreens.

But the best sighting of the day was on the water across from the bridge. I spotted two birds there and, even though they had their beaks tucked under their wings, I finally identified them as Lesser Scaup.

I made one last stop at the Scar Hill area. The walk thru the woods was nice with Golden-crowned Kinglets calling all around me) but as I approached the overlook, the winds almost blew me away. Worst of all there was nothing on the water except a few gulls. As I walked along the shore I found a few small patches of sand that were still supporting wildflowers this late in the year. I think that it was Blue Toadflax but I wasn't able to get a very good shot with all of the wind.