Yet another year is in the books and with the end of the year comes the end of the year review. I made a few trips for the year including Costa Rica in January and Colombia and Florida in March. The trip to Colombia added some new warblers for me (both full species and subspecies). I yet again had at least one species of warbler in Hampshire County for every month of the year, bringing my streak to 68 consecutive months. Overall for the year I found 47 species of warblers (plus multiple subspecies).
I started the new year off with a couple Yellow rumped Warblers on New Years Day in Hadley thus marking my 57th continuous month of finding and photographing at least one warbler species in Hampshire County.
On January 10th I took a trip down to Costa Rica with the original plan to spend ten days in the country with the entire time at Rio Magnolia Lodge. Unfortunately when I went to leave I tested positive for Covid 19 and had to stay in the country. I decided to quarantine in the Monteverde area and made the best of a bad situation. I found a total of 23 species of warbler with two of those new for me in Costa Rica (Ovenbird and Townsend's Warbler) and two new warbler species for me at Rio Magnolia Lodge (Northern Waterthrush and Tropical Parula).
I ended January with a couple Yellow rumped Warblers on a very frigid morning....always impressed with the hardiness of Yellow rumped Warblers.
February began with a few Yellow rumped Warblers and marked my 58th continuous month of a warbler in Hampshire County. The warblers continued through at mid month when I checked up on them once again.
I started March by catching up with multiple Yellow rumped Warblers and furthering my streak of warblers in the county to 59 months.
The middle of the month found me making a brief down to Colombia.in the area around Bogota. The main targets for this trip included Golden fronted Redstart (Yellow faced subspecies), Gray throated Warbler and the Cabanis's subspecies of the Golden crowned Warbler. I was successful in finding all my targets as well as a dozen other species of warbler.
After the trip to Colombia I met Sherri in Florida where we spent a few days in the Orlando area before heading to the coast near Melbourne for a four day stay before a return back north. The Orlando area had a decent selection of warblers but the coast was very quiet overall.
The first week of April featured a record early arrival of Louisiana Waterthrush as well as the first arrivals of Pine and Palm Warblers. By the middle of the month nothing new had arrived but the numbers of early migrants picked up quite a bit.
By the end of April I had found a total of 11 species of warbler in the county but migration conditions kept a big early influx at bay.
After nights of less than ideal migration conditions things changed a bit on May 2nd with the first real day of warbler diversity with 16 species. The numbers and diversity in the early part of the month continued to be low but I did have a close encounter with a Cerulean Warbler that gave me some of the best looks I have ever had of the species.
I had an unusual for spring western type Palm Warbler at the house on the 11th. By the middle of the month the warbler migration continued to be a bit slow compared to the last several years as migration conditions continued to less than ideal.
The big influx of warblers finally arrived on the 17th. The next few days continued to be good for warblers with more and more arriving even with less than ideal weather.
I had an amazing morning for Mourning Warblers on May 20 when I had ten in a single morning! This is more than I get in some entire spring seasons.
On May 27th I was out walking with Wilson and came across another Lawrence's Warbler and then rechecked on the continued Lawrence's Warbler and found that one giving me two Lawrence's Warbler in the same day (and in the same town)!
Although I was unable to find a Hooded Warbler in Hampshire County for the month I made a trip down to Hampden County and had one in the only consistent breeding location in western mass.
The first week of June featured a decent cross section of local breeding warblers but nothing too unusual. I added another Mourning Warbler in early June to a record breaking spring for the species. I also spent some time looking in various places for Hooded Warbler in the county without any luck but did find quite a few Worm eating Warblers.
By the end of June I had found a total of 22 species plus multiple hybrids including an apparent breeding Lawrence's Warbler.
I was able to confirm breeding of the Lawrence's Warbler in Belchertown plus managed to find all 22 species of expected warblers in Hampshire County in the first week of July. I continued to turn up breeding warblers through the third week of the month. The Lawrence's Warbler continued through nearly the end of the month and was seen in the company of at least two hybrid juveniles.
The first week of August was very hot and humid and birding in the heat produced the expected warblers plus at least one slightly late Cerulean Warbler and some interesting feeding behavior of a Black and White Warbler that flared its wings as it fed.
As the heat wave continued on the 8th I found two early migrants including my earliest ever date for a returning Tennessee Warbler and my second earliest date for Northern Parula.
Around the middle of August I had a rare for fall Lawrence's Warbler (my third in the county for the year). I also found more early season Northern Parula and Tennessee Warblers. By the third week of the month I started running across more mixed flocks and fall migration certainly was on the increase.
I started the month of September with a small influx of warblers but the weather for the rest of the first week of the month kept migration to a minimum.
After some rainy weather the conditions changed to some north winds and a few warblers came in to start the second week of the month. The warblers continued to show up through the middle of the month in fits and starts without a huge influx.
The third week of September produced more warblers but again no big pushes. I finally got a brief view of a Connecticut Warbler on the 17th but had to wait until nearly the end of the month to finally get an indivudual that cooperated long enough to get a photo. I actually had two Connecticut Warblers on the same day on the 26th (and one lingered in the same spot until the 28th). By the end of the month I had turned up 26 species in the county.
The first week of October produced the typical species plus some lingering species but nothing too unexpected. The second week of the month brought more warblers including a late Connecticut Warbler and my first Orange crowned Warbler of the year.
The third week of the month continued to produce but nothing unexpected. I did turn up an oddly plumaged Yellow rumped Warbler on the 27th and by the end of the month I had found 17 species of warbler in the county.
I started off November with three warbler species and by the end of a very warm first week of the month I had five species with an area in Hatfield feature multiple late species. By the middle of the month eBird had finally completed its annual taxonomic update and the update impacted some warbler species with some splits that added some new named species for me and also gave me a few new target species to go after in the tropics.
On the 20th of the month I found a very late 'western' Palm Warbler in Hadley and I ended the month with five species in total.
The final month of year began with multiple days spent tracking down a warbler for the month and I finally found a single Yellow rumped Warbler on the 4th. By the end of the first week of the month I had located another late warbler with the sighting of a Common Yellowthroat. I had the Yellow rumped Warbler continuing through the middle of the month but I failed to track down any other individuals of the species.
I also redid my early and late dates chart for warblers in Hampshire County and I added a few new early/late dates this year. Around the middle of the month a Pine Warbler showed up at a feeder at a private residence in Northampton. It took multiple stops over three separate days before I finally saw it Christmas morning. I had another Yellow rumped Warbler in the East Meadows near the end of the month. I finished the month with three warbler species in the county, which is the highest total I have ever had for December.
The camera on the water feature captured 10 species of warbler this year and I included the selection of birds above. Over the years of having various water features in the same spot I have captured a total of 18 species of warbler with the only new one this year being Yellow Warbler
With the arrival of the new year comes the plans for next years trips to seek out warblers At this point we have a cruise planned for March that will visit three islands that contain warblers I have never seen with a stop in Trinidad to get Masked Yellowthroat (a species that underwent a three way split with the latest taxonomic update) then onto St. Vincent where I hope to get the endemic Whistling Warbler and finally a stop in Dominica to get the Plumbeous Warbler. I have also started looking at the possibilities of a fall trip to Bolivia and possibly Brazil to add several species of warbler but the plans are far from set at this point. A trip to Colorado in July should produce some western warblers too.
If somehow you need more warblers below are links to previous year end summaries with loads more photos and stories:
Below are a few tallies for the year with overall warblers seen, warblers per month overall and warblers per month in Hampshire County.
Warblers (running tally for year)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
24 24 37 37 45 45 45 45 46 47 47 47
Warblers overall per month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
24 1 26 11 29 21 19 23 26 17 5 3
Hampshire County warblers by month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1 1 1 11 28 21 19 23 26 17 5 3
