Saturday, August 31, 2019

Warblers for August


Cerulean Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 27, 2019
Cerulean Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 27, 2019
 Common Yellowthroat, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
 Chestnut sided Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
 Blue winged Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
Yellow Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
Northern Waterthrush, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
Common Yellowthroat, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019

Yellow Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 27, 2019
American Redstart, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Aug 27, 2019

Common Yellowthroat, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Aug 22, 2019
Common Yellowthroat, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 19, 2019
As August comes to an end the height of fall warbler migration nears.  Some species have already moved on with the first to move out being Louisiana Waterthrush (my last record for the year was on August 13 while out in New York...my last record in the county for the year was in mid July).  I found a total of 21 warbler species in Hampshire County for the month with the highlights including a Cerulean Warbler and a couple Mourning Warblers mid month.

I also came across an interesting article about a record old Kentucky Warbler that was recently captured in Alabama.  The bird was originally banded in the summer of 2010 at which point it was at least two years old which would now make the bird at least 11 years old!  A truly amazing age for a warbler.  The link to the article can be found here.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Cerulean Warbler and a number of other warblers the last couple days

Cerulean Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 27, 2019
Cerulean Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 27, 2019
 Common Yellowthroat, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
 Chestnut sided Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
 Blue winged Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
Yellow Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
Northern Waterthrush, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
Common Yellowthroat, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2019
The last couple days have certainly felt and looked like early fall with mornings starting out cool (upper 40’s) but warming into the 70’s during the day with low humidity and mostly sunny skies and mixed groups of warblers around. I stopped at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River on my home yesterday and ran across a few warblers including a slightly early Northern Parula among nine species.  On my way out I ran across Ted who told me about the warblers he had including a Tennessee Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler and a very unusual Worm eating Warbler. I tried briefly to relocate those species but didn’t have any luck.
Cerulean Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 27, 2019
Cerulean Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 27, 2019
Yellow Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 27, 2019
American Redstart, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Aug 27, 2019
Today I started out my morning at UMASS but it was fairly slow with just five species of warbler. I decided to try my luck once again at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River in the hopes of catching up with some of the species I missed yesterday. Unfortunately the fog had descended on most areas away from UMASS including my destination. Nonetheless there were a few birds around and slowly the fog lifted and that is when I had the best bird of the day when I found a Cerulean Warbler...a very rare fall migrant and only the second one I have ever had in fall. I was watching a small mixed flock when I found the bird near a Yellow Warbler.  It took me a minute to process what I was seeing as I was not even remotely expecting to find a Cerulean Warbler today.  I watched it for several seconds before it moved and then popped more into the open allowing me to fire off a series of photos that thankfully captured the bird.  It looked to be a female or a first year male.  Cerulean Warbler typically migrates fairly early and there are just a handful of breeding pairs in the area and very few north of here so finding one at the end of August is quite noteworthy. Besides the Cerulean Warbler I had a half dozen other species of warbler.  Between yesterday and today I had 13 species of warblers with 11 species just at Fort River.  When adding the species Ted had Fort River yesterday there were at least 16 species of warblers in a fairly small area.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Warblers on a short trip to the Finger Lakes

Bird families of the world mural with warblers represented by a Prothonotary Warbler , Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, Aug 14, 2019
Fuller Wetland, Sapsucker Woods, Ithaca, NY, Aug 14, 2019
Back from a short (non birding) trip out to the Finger Lakes region of New York. We headed out on Sunday and stayed at the southern end of Seneca Lake for three nights. I got in a little birding first thing in the morning a couple days plus some additional birding during stops at Watkins Glen SP and Sapsucker Woods at Cornell in Ithaca.  I found a total of just five species of warblers but two (Louisiana Waterthrush at Watkins Glen SP and Chestnut sided Warbler at Sapsucker Woods) were new for me in the state. I have now seen 12 species of warbler in New York which is not too many but considering how infrequently I visit the state it is not too bad.