Quabbin Park this morning

Long tailed Duck (L) and Black Scoter (R), Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Long tailed Duck (L) and Black Scoter (R), Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Bufflehead, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Bufflehead (L) and Hooded Mergansers (R), Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Black Ducks, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Black Ducks, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Horned Grebe, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Common Loon, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Hooded Mergansers, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Winsor Dam area, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Ring billed Gull, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2013

Another cool morning but not nearly as cold as yesterday.  The winds didn't pick up until later in the morning so viewing conditions were quite good.  I made yet another trip into Quabbin Park to see what I could scare up for waterfowl.  Several stops produced the following waterfowl- 5 Bufflehead, 3 Long tailed Ducks, a Black Scoter (female with long tailed duck), 118 Black Ducks (most at roost predawn), 11 Wood Ducks, 20 Hooded Mergansers, 8 Common Loons, 11 Horned Grebes, 16 Mallards and 30 Canada Geese.  Other notables included a continued Spotted Sandpiper at Hanks Meadow, a trilling Eastern screech Owl and a pair of Great Horned Owls.

And in another chapter of the "I have never had that happen before"....I went into Quabbin Park early this morning not long after the gates opened and made my way to Hanks Meadow.  There was a truck parked in the middle of the small dirt road going down to the parking lot.  I was able to squeeze by the truck and went into the parking lot.  I got out and started getting my scope and such out and the truck moved down the road and stopped behind me.  I figured he was going to ask me if I had seen any deer or any eagles (a typical question here despite the fact it is nearly impossible to miss either species here).  Instead he asks me if I would mind not stopping here or if I had to come here then to go slow on the road because he was watching a few deer from his truck.  I thought he was kidding as I can't imagine anyone having any more of a right to be here then anybody else and I honestly don't think the deer here can be scared away, even if you tried.  The deer are tame and eat out of peoples hands here.  I have to shoo them off the trails to get by at times.  I said "you serious?"  Apparently he was and I kept my cool as best I could but told him I come here most every day and I'm not likely to stop and it is nearly impossible to scare the deer away.  I didn't mention the fact that he was blocking the road with his gas guzzler of a truck and the deer where all still standing in the field after I passed and driving his truck up to me certainly wouldn't recreate whatever nature moment he believed I ruined by driving past him.  I assume he doesn't come here much as it can get very busy on weekends and if someone driving past him upset him so much perhaps he may want to find a new spot to become one with nature.  I'm not sure what he was expecting me to say but I'm glad it happened early in the day on a day off instead of after a stressful day of work because I'm fairly certain I would have snapped a bit.  Luckily most people I run across first thing in the morning here are fairly decent but every now and then you get someone who is just an ass...but that is life I guess.