Magnolia Warbler in downtown Northampton

While working today I walked up Pleasant St in Northampton and at the bike path I noticed a small bird hopping around on the ground just off the trail.  I took a few more steps and then backtracked to see what it was as it stuck me as odd.  It was a Magnolia Warbler feeding just off the road.  A beautiful naked eye bird that seemed so out of place here.  Certainly a nice bird on this chilly morning and getting late for around here.  My last one was on October 1 until this morning

More October warblers

Despite the windy weather of the last few days I have managed to find some lingering warblers.  Today was quite good with Yellow-rumped, Palm, Black-throated Green, Blackpoll and Pine Warblers.  Most of these were in one small area at Quabbin Park.  Nothing too unusual but a nice selection for mid October.

early October warblers

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin, MA, Oct 9, 2011

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin, MA, Oct 9, 2011

The days of double digits warbler species counts are all finished here in Massachusetts.  Soon it will be tough to find any warblers beyond the late staying yellow rumps.  With that said I had a very nice day for warblers today.  I spent the morning in the central part of Quabbin and found a nice collection of warblers for the 9th day of October.  The weather started cool in the upper 40's but quickly warmed to a record setting mid 80's high.  The surprise warbler of the day was an adult male Cape May in a mixed species flock.  There were a total of  eight species with the vast majority being Yellow-rumped Warblers.  The other species seen included Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, Palm, Blackpoll, Pine and Black throated Blue Warblers.

California trip warblers

Orange-crowned Warbler, Elkhorn Slough, CA, Sep 21, 2011

Chestnut sided Warbler, Julia Pheiffer Burns SP, CA, Sep 23, 2011

Black-throated Gray Warbler, Drakes Beach, Point Reyes NS, CA, Sep 19, 2011

I have added up my numbers and started going through my photos from my recent California trip (Sept 17-25).  I managed a total of nine species of warbler with the most unusual being an adult Chestnut sided Warbler, which is a rare vagrant in California.  Other species included Orange-crowned, Yellow, Palm, Yellow-rumped (Audubon's), Black-throated Gray, Townsend's and Wilson's Warblers as well as Common Yellowthroat.