A seventeen warbler day in April!

Pine Warbler, Quabbin, April 30, 2011
Yellow Warbler, Quabbin, April 30, 2011


A very nice selection of warblers for late April were found today in the central area of Quabbin as the month comes to an end. An amazing total of eighteen species for the month as several species have arrived a bit early this season. A few new species today included Chestnut sided, Blackburnian and Ovenbird.

New warblers...

Today brought Blue winged Warbler, American Redstart and Common Yellowthroat in to add to the warbler list here in Massachusetts in April. Many species are ahead by several days thanks to a long period of southerly winds. As of today 14 species of warblers grace my state list for the year and I seem to add a few every day now.

UMASS Orchard Hill warblers

Spent a foggy, drizzle filled morning at Orchard Hill on the UMASS campus with Ian Davies and Nick Barber and had loads of birds. Certainly my biggest count of Black and White Warblers ever. The numbers of Yellow rumps were impressive too with well over 100 birds present. In addition Ian had a Prairie and Magnolia to add to the list for the day.


Orchard Hill UMASS

Northern Parula 1 seen and heard
Yellow Warbler 4
Black-throated Blue Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 110 minimum number
Black-throated Green Warbler 7 several calling
Palm Warbler 6
Black-and-white Warbler 43 huge influx of these. Minimum count. At times several in view at once
Northern Waterthrush 1 Probably two around

New warblers continue to arrive

Spent the morning checking out one of my breeding bird atlas blocks and came across another new warbler for the season...a singing Black throated Green Warbler. I also added Black and White Warblers (five) yesterday along the Amherst Rail Trail. When I got home today I had another Black and White and another Black throated Green in the yard among the many Yellow rumps and Palms plus a handful of Pines.

Arizona warblers...and the first Black and White of the year

MacGillivray's Warbler, Madera Canyon, April 15, 2011
Yellow rumped Warbler "Audubon's", Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson, AZ, April 11, 2011

Wilson's Warbler, Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson, AZ, April 11, 2011

Lucy's Warbler, Saguaro NP, April 10, 2011

A more complete report on the warbler I found during my trip out to Arizona in early April. I managed 15 species of warblers including Olive, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Virginia's, Lucy's, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Black throated Gray, Townsend's, Hermit, Grace's, MacGillivrays, and Wilson's Warblers plus Common Yellowthroat and Painted Redstart. I got photos of most species but not all. Some really good groups moving through as migration continues to pick up out there. Enjoy some of the pic's.

Also found my first Black and White Warblers of the year around here plus loads of Palm and Yellow-rumps.

Four warbler day.

Began the day at Quabbin Park and had quite a few Pine Warblers calling as well as a Louisiana Waterthrush. I spent a lot of time in the yard doing spring clean up and managed to add more Pine Warblers as well as several Yellow-rumped and a lone Palm. The activity is only going to pick up from here. It is nice to have warblers back in the yard singing.

Back from Arizona...15 species of warblers

Lucy's Warbler, Saguaro NP, AZ, April 10, 2011

Just returned from a week long trip to Arizona and managed to turn up a total 15 species of warblers with a couple new to me including Grace's and Virginia. I will be posting more details and photos over the next week or two. In addition I had my first Louisiana Waterthrush of the season and the Pine Warblers seem to be everywhere now.

First Pine Warbler

The first Pine Warbler of the season arrived today marking the beginning of what will hopefully be an eventful season of warbler migration. There have been reports from the last couple days of various early season warbler but this was the first one I was able to catch up with.