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The information presented on this page was researched and written by third grade students.

 

Quabbin Area Wildlife

Red Fox

Here are some of the animals found in the Quabbin today.

 

"My favorite part was the fishing pole. I liked the canoe."

3rd grade student
Red Tailed Hawk
White Tailed Deer
Raccoon
Beaver
Loon
Coyote
Trout
Bald Eagle
Moose

 

Beavers

  • Beavers are about 3 feet long
  • They weigh 30 to 65 pounds
  • They have orange tinted buck teeth
  • Beavers eat plants
  • They usually stay five or six years in one location
  • They build a pond by making a dam with trees they cut down with their teeth

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Red Fox

  • The red fox weighs approximately 15 pounds
  • It is a type of small dog that lives in a burrow
  • It is red and has a white belly; the tip of its tail is white
  • The red fox has a litter of four young
  • It has excellent senses
  • It eats mice, rabbits, birds, and insects
  • The red fox lives in woodland and open country

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Raccoon

  • A raccoon is brown and black
  • It lives and climbs in trees
  • It has a black mask
  • It eats fish and trash

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Red Tailed Hawk

  • Red tailed hawks eat mice, rabbits, lizards, snakes, birds, insects, and frogs
  • It lays 1 to 4 eggs
  • Young birds feed themselves at 4 to 5 weeks old
  • It lives in a twig nest high in a tree near wooded areas
  • The red tailed hawk has a red, orange tail
  • Its wingspan is more than 4 feet
  • It weighs less than 3 lbs

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White Tailed Deer

  • Deer have amazing hearing
  • White tailed deer have brown eyes, white tail
  • Deer live 7 years or more
  • Bucks can reach 200 to 300 pounds
  • Deer are good jumpers
  • When a fawn is born the mother will lick him so she will recognize him later

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Loon

  • The loon’s scientific name is Gavia Immer
  • Loons eat fish, crabs and some types of insects
  • The loon lives in northern lakes and rivers
  • Loons breed from Alaska to British Columbia and Eastern New England
  • Their young have brown fur
  • Loons are duck like, have black and white fur, white under parts, a dagger-like bill and they make a call that sounds like laughing

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Coyote

  • Eastern coyotes average about 40 pounds in weight
  • They are grizzled gray – brown in color
  • They look a lot like a German shepherd
  • Coyote's tails hang low to the ground
  • They are strong swimmers, good jumpers

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Trout

  • Trout feed on insects, crustaceans, and smaller fish
  • They are often raised in hatcheries and released in fishing water
  • Brook trout live in water 50 degrees Fahrenheit or below
  • They weigh 2 pounds and rarely go up to 10 pounds
  • Rainbow trout weigh 2 to 5 pounds but they can reach 40 pounds
  • They live in the eastern streams or lakes
  • Lake trout need to be in cold water
  • They live in the deep lakes in the north
  • They weigh up 6 to pounds

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Bald Eagle

  • The Bald Eagles are the symbol of the United States of America
  • It eats fish, snakes, and small birds
  • Bald Eagles used to lay eggs with thin shells or no shells at all because of the DDT contamination
  • The Bald Eagles nearly vanished from our area because of DDT
  • Bald eagles work together to take of the eggs and chicks
  • Their wingspan is about six feet long
  • The Quabbin is a protected nesting area

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Moose

  • There are many moose in the Quabbin watershed
  • Moose have brown fur and brownish whitish horns
  • Sometimes they are friendly and sometimes they’re not
  • A moose's legs are about three feet tall
  • Moose cause more than six hundred car-accidents a year
  • If a car hit a moose the moose would flip onto the car and hit the windshield

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