Warblers for the first third of November and a look at vagrant Townsend's Warblers in the east this fall

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 2, 2019

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 2, 2019

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 5, 2019

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Nov 10, 2019

As the first third of November comes to a close I have so far seen just two species of warbler (a single Common Yellowthroat and various groups of Yellow rumped Warblers).  I have seen a few reports of Palm Warblers and Blackpoll Warblers for the month in the county but I have not run across any yet.  The numbers of Yellow rumped Warblers will continue to drop but I have been scouting areas that look good for featuring the species late into the fall (and possibly throughout the winter).  The chances of a rare warbler showing up is still possible and worth putting in the effort looking.

Townsend's Warbler, Unicornio Azul Lodge, Guatemala, Feb 11, 2018

There is a large ongoing influx of Townsend's Warblers in the east this fall with the vast majority of records coming from Newfoundland.  There were a few records early in the fall in the Great Lakes and along the east coast of the US with at least half a dozen records in September and into October (two of those in Massachusetts...both on the coast).

The real jackpot for the species is once again Newfoundland which has a surprising track record of attracting this species with quite a few records in late fall. Bruce Mactavish (a birder and blogger from Newfoundland) stated it well with this quote from his blog back in 2014:

"Newfoundland is full of paradoxes when it comes to bird records but none is more bizarre than the high frequency of Townsend's Warbler. Sixteen records for the Avalon Peninsula is more than most states and provinces in the eastern half of North America have tallied. Fourteen of these have occurred within the St. John's city limits. Even more remarkable is that 11 of these have occurred in the Waterford Valley, an area roughly 300 x 1500 meters. This probably means we are missing lots more in other areas. There are two records for the Greater Renews area proving that the Townsend's Warbler can occur outside of the city. BTW all of these November western warblers were seen well, most over a period of days or weeks, most by many observers and all but three TOWAs photographed. In other words solid record."  (Full post from the blog can be found at this link)

The records have continued to pile up this year and it looks to be unprecedented in the numbers for a single year including a record early date in late September (another blog post about that from Bruce here.)  So far there have already been at least ten Townsend's Warblers seen this fall in Newfoundland, with all of them being on the Avalon Peninsula on the eastern end of the island.  According to a post on the ABA Rare Bird Alert Facebook page from Monday November 4th this makes 25 records for the species in Newfoundland from 1983-2019 (which has now gone up to 26 records with another found on November 6 at another location).  With the peak of records for this species coming in November into December I suspect even more individuals will be added to the total.

There is just a single record for the species in western Massachusetts so far and this occurred back on November 21, 2013 when one showed up briefly at a home in Amherst and was photographed before it disappeared (eBird list with photos here)