oconnoyq's Journal

I went for a walk around the reservoir in the afternoon. A cold front passed through a few days earlier and it was just starting to warm back up. The sun was mostly hidden behind clouds. I saw 3 turkeys on the way down as well as some squirrels, robins, sparrows and some seagulls. Once at the reservoir, I saw hundreds of coots all diving beneath the surface near the bank. Mixed in were a few swans and geese also getting a meal in. On the other side there were even more coots and some mallards, as well as around a dozen ruddy ducks.

I went for a walk in a nature preserve in my home town right before dusk. It had been cloudy earlier in the day but when I went the sun was setting without a cloud in sight. As soon as I entered the woods I found three bucks and four does all feeding on a trail and making grunting noises. As I passed the deer I found some brambles and ferns on the ground, as well as acorns from some oak trees that the deer were eating. I kept walking and found some small hickory trees with even more deer nearby eating some grasses. As I left, I saw a sugar maple.

I walked around the reservoir on the side that doesn't follow Beacon Street and over towards Cleveland Circle. It was raining heavily for the majority of the time but near the end it cleared up a bit. Overall it was kind of chilly and very wet making it not a very enjoyable walk but the organisms made up for it. There were wild plants growing all along the bank and in the forest on the other side of the trail. There were lots of joggers and dogs but that didn't seem to affect the waterfowl except for one male Mallard. There was one group of 3 swans, a group of 2 and a lone swan spread across the lake. The mallards were more bunched up with one flock of around 20 all feeding together right next to the bank. The heron was sitting by itself resting on a small island. The geese didn't land in the reservoir but rather flew over it to meet up with more geese already feeding on a nearby soccer field.