Atwood Reservoir, 15 October 2017

On the 15th of October 2017, twelve adventurous birders spent the morning exploring a recently acquired Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game property, the Atwood Reservoir in Carver. Armed with a member that works in land acquisition for DFG, we were all delighted to hear about the history of the property and how DFG came to acquire this land for public use.

For those who do not know, if coming from Route 58 in Carver, there is a small, nondescript parking area 0.9 miles down Meadow Street on the left hand side that can be used to access this area.

The morning started foggy, and the drive to the meetup spot made it questionable on how productive birding at this large reservoir which was mostly birded by scoping the reservoir itself would be. At the meetup location at Sampson Pond, the fog slowly lifted over time, giving promise that the conditions would improve.

When we arrived at the parking area, we went across the street to quickly check the small, marshy reservoir. There wasn't much going on so we quickly moved on and took the main trail toward Atwood Reservoir. Starting at the north end of the res, we encountered lots of skulky Savannah, Song, and Swamp Sparrows, as well as a few Wood Ducks. We also briefly saw an Osprey hunting, as well as a Merlin dashing to chase some crows.

The group, taking a moment to shoot the breeze

Doubling back and tracing the western perimeter, it seemed each time our group stopped to check the pond someone would sight something interesting. First, a Pied-billed Grebe. Next stop, two American Coot, a species which I have never observed at this location. Next, someone saw a distant buteo which we spent time trying to identify, and while looking we noticed that a Bald Eagle was resting in a tree, remaining so still that it was largely unnoticed by our group initially. As we walked to the southernmost point of the reservoir, we encountered two more Pied-billed Grebes and several bunches of Tree Swallows migrating overhead. At this point we decided to turn back and headed back to the parking area.

Almost at the parking area, twice the group heard calls which sounded like Dickcissel flight calls, and after searching we were unable to locate the bird. We also heard lots of blackbirds, so we decided to again check the small reservoir. While there we heard a Rusty Blackbird calling, and were all surprised to find a spectacular male Black-throated Blue Warbler. After getting to observe this bird for a while we all decided to call it a day, and ended our trip with 42 species.

-Nate