Second week of September ends

Northern Parula, Belchertown, MA, Sep 14, 2025

Pine Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 14, 2025

Nashville Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 14, 2025

Northern Parula, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2025

Common Yellowthroat, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2025

Northern Waterthrush, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2025

Ovenbird, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2025

Palm Warbler 'western', Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2025

The second week of September has come to a close and the weather continues to be very pleasant with cool nights in the 50's and mainly sunny days with highs in the 70's...perfect September weather.  It has also been mostly good migration conditions and the birds are rapidly moving through.  During the second week of the month I added three new warbler species with Blue winged Warbler, my first Connecticut Warbler on the 12th and Palm Warblers yesterday.  I now stand at 24 species so far for the month.  Some areas have been quite slow that are usually quite active (especially Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River) but thankfully other areas closer to home have been much more active.  The next week looks to feature much of the same for weather and I suspect lots more birds will be moving past.

First Connecticut Warbler of the season

Black and White Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2025

Black throated Green Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2025

Northern Parula, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2025

Black throated Green Warblers, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2025

Ovenbird, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2025

Chestnut sided Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2025

Cape May Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2025

Black and White Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2025

American Redstart, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2025

Wilson on the trail, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2025

After another night of great migration conditions I headed out before dawn and spent most of my time in Pelham and Belchertown and was rewarded with my first Connecticut Warbler of the fall (sadly no photo today, just a brief look).  The next couple of weeks are the prime season for this unusual warbler to move through the area as they head off to South America.  The species takes a different route to the north in the spring compared to their fall migration with the spring migration moving up through the Ohio valley and the fall migration coming through mainly the northeast and mid Atlantic so the only time to see the species around here is fall.  It is a fairly tough species to find as it loves to stay hidden and will typically show itself for just a short time before disappearing, which was the case this morning.  I started at a good warbler spot at first light and found 14 species of warbler with good number of Northern Parula and Cape May Warblers.  Now is about peak of diversity with more and more species becoming tougher to find with each passing day.  Overall numbers are yet to peak as we have the hordes of Yellow rumped Warblers and Palm Warblers yet to come.  I next headed up to Gate 11 and that is where I had the Connecticut Warbler.  I think this is the first time I have had the species at Gate 11.  I then hit a few more spots in Belchertown and by the end of the morning I had found 17 species of warblers.

Influx of migrants thanks to some northwest winds

Cape May Warbler, Ware, MA, Sep 8, 2025

Cape May Warbler, Ware, MA, Sep 8, 2025

Black throated Green Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 8, 2025

Wilson's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 8, 2025

Magnolia Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 8, 2025

Chestnut sided Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 8, 2025

Black throated Blue Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 8, 2025

Blackpoll Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 8, 2025

Bay breasted Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 8, 2025

After multiple days with southerly winds followed by some rain the winds turned around and came out of the northwest which of course means migrants arriving.  I spent a decent portion of the morning out and although it started off slow (likely due to temps in the mid 40's) it eventually picked up and I had some nice pockets of birds with the activity peaking as the sun started heating stuff up and then rapidly trailing off by 10AM.  Good variety with 19 species tallied for the day.  

Good start to September

Magnolia Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 3, 2025

Wilson's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 3, 2025

Blackburnian Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 3, 2025

Tennessee Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 3, 2025

Cape May Warbler, Ware, MA, Sep 3, 2025

Chestnut sided Warbler, Rail Trail, Ware, MA, Sep 3, 2025

Prairie Warbler, Rail Trail, Ware, MA, Sep 3, 2025

American Redstart, Ware, MA, Sep 3, 2025

Northern Waterthrush, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 2, 2025

Black and White Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 1, 2025

Chestnut sided Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 1, 2025

Canada Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 1, 2025

Cape May Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 1, 2025

Black and White Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 1, 2025

Black throated Blue Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 1, 2025

I'm off to a good start for the month of September with 22 species so far and still need to add a Blue winged Warbler (which should be easy but I have missed it so far).  Any other additions for the month will be somewhat on the rare side (like Mourning Warbler and Connecticut Warbler).

I was out before dawn on the first and after looking for some nocturnal species I spent much of that morning around the south Quabbin/Belchertown area in search of warblers and had 17 species for the day including multiple Cape May Warblers.  

On the second I concentrated on spots along the river from Holyoke north and despite a lot of looking I only managed to add one more species for the month (Yellow Warbler) with a paltry seven species total!  Very low for the time of year and areas covered.

Today I started off in Ware and then worked my way back to Belchertown and had a decent morning with 18 species including more Cape May Warblers and my first Magnolia, Blackburnian, Blackpoll and Wilson's Warblers for the month (any day with a Wilson's Warbler is a good day).  

August comes to an end

Cape May Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Aug 29, 2025

Blackburnian Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Aug 29, 2025

Nashville Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Aug 29, 2025

Ovenbird, UMASS Demonstration Forest, Belchertown, MA, Aug 31, 2025

Tennessee Warbler, UMASS Demonstration Forest, Belchertown, MA, Aug 31, 2025

Blackburnian Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Aug 30, 2025

Nashville Warbler, UMASS Demonstration Forest, Belchertown, MA, Aug 29, 2025

Black throated Green Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Aug 29, 2025

Magnolia Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Aug 29, 2025

Chestnut sided Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Aug 29, 2025

Northern Parula, Belchertown, MA, Aug 29, 2025

Canada Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Aug 29, 2025

August has now come to an end and I'm quite happy with the haul of warblers with a total of 26 species with a good showing of early arrivals (plus a few lingering species to begin the month).  The early arrivals have included Bay breasted Warbler (a great early showing for the species), Tennessee Warbler, Cape May Warbler (also a good showing), Northern Parula and Nashville Warbler.  We now enter the second peak period for warblers here (the best being May of course).  Diversity and numbers peak and then we start the long downhill slide into later fall and then winter.  Very happy to say I will not be here for the core of the cold of winter.  Bring on September with the promise of a Connecticut Warbler (or hopefully many)!