A fabulous fall for Connecticut Warblers including my first one in the yard yesterday

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2016

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2016

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2016

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2016

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 17, 2016

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 17, 2016

Connecticut Warbler, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 16, 2016

Connecticut Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 10, 2016

Yesterday while stuck at home while I got some work done on the house I managed to turn up a new warbler species for the yard when I found a Connecticut Warbler.  This became my 28th warbler species in the yard and one of the most unusual ones.  Despite having seen other unusual species here such as Kentucky, Orange crowned and multiples of Mourning, Bay breasted and Cape May Warblers I have still not had a Blue winged Warbler in the yard!  Very strange indeed.  This fall has been an incredibly productive year for finding Connecticut Warbler here in the valley.  I have found a total of eight so far this season spanning the dates from September 9 until yesterday at various locations including Arcadia, the Honey Pot and Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River with multiples seen on a couple different days.  Most years I have between one and three total and never multiples on the same day.  I have also managed to get some of the best photos I have ever gotten of this usually tough to photograph species. (* the final tally for the year ended up being a whopping ten individuals with the last one added in early October)

Another Connecticut Warbler and many others in the last few days

Connecticut Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 10, 2016

Northern Parula, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 10, 2016

Black throated Green Warbler, Quabbin Park,  MA, Sep 10, 2016

Nashville Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 11, 2016

Prairie Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 11, 2016

Yellow Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 11, 2016

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 11, 2016

Common Yellowthroat, Honey Pot, Hadley,  MA, Sep 12, 2016

I continued to have some good luck with fall warblers for the last few days including another Connecticut Warbler at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River on the 10th and one that was cooperative (at least as far as CT warblers go).  I had a total of 22 species of warbler during the three day period between September 9-11.  Besides the previously mentioned Connecticut Warbler and Yellow breasted Chat highlights included Tennessee, Cape May and Bay breasted Warblers.  That brings my total warblers in the county for the year so far to 31.  The likelihood of adding any more species at this point is quite low but you never know...it would take a rarity at this point.  My overall total of warbler species for the year worldwide is at 35 with the additional species coming from Costa Rica and Florida.

Yellow breasted Chat and Connecticut Warbler at Arcadia (and others too)

Yellow breasted Chat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 9, 2016

Yellow breasted Chat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 9, 2016

Connecticut Warbler (yes really), Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 9, 2016

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 9, 2016

Palm Warbler (western), Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 9, 2016

Magnolia Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 9, 2016

I spent a few hours at Arcadia this morning and as I was walking down the trolley line I had a Yellow breasted Chat briefly pop into view. After several minutes of looking and trying to get this notoriously skulking species to pop back out I had it call once. I then got another view of it as it sat behind some vegetation and I fired off several shots with the camera before it dropped from view once again. As I dropped the camera down and looked back up two more birds showed up at eye level just a few feet from where the chat had been...one was a Common Yellowthroat but the other was an adult male Connecticut Warbler!  The Connecticut Warbler was partially hidden from view but I got great views of it in the binoculars. My attempt at photos was less successful and I got just a few blurry shots of a gray and yellow bird. I would have been happy to get either one of these species today but getting them both one right after the other was great. Two rare warblers within just a few feet of each other...good stuff. The Yellow breasted Chat can be very tough to find in the county and this is only my third record (the other records for me occurred on Sep 9, 2014 and Sep 21, 2005). Oddly all three of my sightings of this species have occurred within a quarter mile or less of each other at Arcadia.