Mid June warblers

Yellow Warbler, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jun 16, 2020

Yellow Warbler, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jun 16, 2020

Yellow Warbler, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jun 16, 2020

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown Land Trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, Jun 16, 2020

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown Land Trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, Jun 16, 2020

The migrant warblers have now all moved through and the remaining warblers are here to breed and raise another generation.  Lots of birds actively feeding young or still sitting on nests with the first fledglings expected any day now.  I spent part of the morning looking for any remaining unusual warblers, which this year means the Hooded Warbler in Hadley and the Lawrence's Warbler in Belchertown.  I searched for the Hooded Warbler at first light with no luck at all so it appears it was just around for a couple days (June 7 and 8) and has not been reported since.  My best guess is that it moved on to another area in search of a mate....a tough proposition at the northern extreme of their breeding range around here.   I had better luck with the Lawrence's Warbler, finding it in the same area where I first found it on May 5th.  Still no indication it has found a mate but I will keep looking.

American Redstart, Ware, MA, Jun 14, 2020

I recently completed my annual breeding bird survey route on Sunday and as always there were warblers along the route with a dozen species found.  The most abundant warblers were Ovenbird (present at 64% of stops) and Common Yellowthroat (present at 52% of stops).