bo35-5-web.pdf

Road and walked across the street to the reservoir.Just a bit further north on White Bagley there is an obvious, very short trail down to the water.Scope here for Ringnecked and Ruddy ducks, coot, and other species.Sometimes large flocks of ducks can be seen across the water along the eastern shore.The small wooded island at the south end of this part of the reservoir sometimes has a small Great Blue Heron colony.Just a short distance farther up White Bagley are two "from the road" overlooks of the reservoir and a small dirt parking area with a trailhead often used by fishermen.But what I usually do is continue north on White Bagley Road, take a right at the stop sign, and then bear right on Route 30 over another causeway over the reservoir.Typically there are more ducks here on either side, but there is no place to easily and safely pull off.Driving over the causeway, take your first right onto Central Street and in a very short distance you will cross some railroad tracks.Pull over just beyond, along the small Fay Memorial Field and playground.With your scope, walk back to the old railroad tracks, and then west along the path that runs alongside the tracks.In a few hundred yards, you will be able to scope most of the southern section of the Sudbury Reservoir.Along your way, note the brushy pool to your right, which can have lingering passerines and Mallards and perhaps a Wood Duck.For a closer view of birds on the southeast corner of the reservoir, drive past Fay Memorial Field and take an immediate right onto Winter Street.There is a nice view of this end of the water, but there is room for only one car.If you continue on Winter Street to Route 9, you will only be able to turn right (west), so I typically turn around here and drive back out to Central Street. Nearby Birding DestinationsAt the peak of late fall or spring waterfowl migration, birders in Central Massachusetts often combine a visit to Sudbury Reservoir with a visit to the SuAsCo impoundment and Chauncy Pond, both in Westborough, and Little Chauncy and Bartlett ponds in Northborough for a full day's birding.These well-known productive spots deserve an article of their own.An alternative is a quick trip to Fort Meadow Reservoir in nearby Marlboro.From the intersection of Acre Bridge Road and Route 85, take Route 85 north towards Marlborough for three miles.On your right will be Reservoir Street, which runs along a great-looking causeway through Fort Meadow Reservoir.Unfortunately, parking along the causeway is restricted to "sort of" pulling off at the boat launch gate.A much better alternative is to pull into the Piccadilly Pub lot if the pub is not open or continue another 0.4 mile on Route 85 and turn right into the dirt parking lot for The Grove park on the reservoir.Walk to the shore here or down the obvious path for good unobstructed views of this section of the reservoir.Fort Meadow Reservoir hosts a surprising number of migrant waterfowl from late October until freeze-up.These include Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard, scaup, Canvasback (uncommon ), Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded and Common mergansers, Ruddy Duck (my personal high count was 959 on 11/12/00), and American Coot.Double-crested Cormorants and Great Blue Herons often linger into December.I even had a Greater Yellowlegs here on the late date of November 12. Continuing north past The Grove on Route 85 for about half a mile, you will hit the entrance to the eastern end of I-290 in Hudson, very close to its intersection with I-495.One last waterfowl location worthy of mention in the area is on Route 20 in Marlboro near the Sudbury line.From the intersection of Routes 85 and 20, take Route 20 east for three miles and pull right into the parking area for Stephen Anthony's Restaurant and the Wayside Country Store.Park at the far right end of the lot near the gazebo.This is tiny, shallow Hagar Pond.After many other ponds have frozen, small sections of Hagar Pond stay open a bit longer, and therefore, among the jostling crowd of Mute Swans, Canada Geese, and Mallards that are being fed, look for lingering species like Northern Pintail, Gadwall, Common Goldeneye, and Hooded Merganser.In mid-December 2005 a Cackling Goose was found here.This is a great spot to check if you are doing a Central Massachusetts January 1 st "Big Day." Mark Lynch is a teacher and environmental monitor at Massachusetts Audubon Society's Broad Meadow Brook Sanctuary.In addition, he is a teacher and docent at the Worcester Art Museum and hosts Inquiry on radio station WICN, an interview show of the arts and sciences.Currently, he is working on a book about the birds of the Blackstone National Corridor.

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