Continued Yellow rumped Warblers during a brief February warm up

 

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Feb 11, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Feb 11, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Feb 11, 2022

The last couple days have featured above normal temperatures (into the 50's) and it has been fairly pleasant being outside.  I went out in search of Yellow rumped Warblers on both Friday and Saturday.  On Friday I followed up on the two groups of warblers I know have been around, starting off at Arcadia where I located two.  I then went over to Mitch's Way and had two more.  On Saturday I went looking for a single Yellow rumped Warbler Mary had off the rail trail in Amherst but was unable to relocate that bird.  The overwintering birds have endured some snow and ice as well as some very cold temperatures but seem to be doing fine with quite a bit of food remaining for them so I see no reason why they will not be successful in surviving the entire winter.

Yellow rumped Warblers to start February

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Feb 2, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Feb 2, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Feb 2, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Feb 2, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Feb 2, 2022

The weather finally warmed up a bit after many days of frigid weather and I was able to get out birding this morning after work with the main target being a warbler species for the new month.  I had at least two Yellow rumped Warblers at Arcadia to end January so I was hopeful I could relocate them again today and I was successful with at least three individuals present.  It was nice to have easily accessible birds as the only other overwinter Yellow rumped Warblers I know of involve a bit of a walk to get to them (I'll try to check on these birds sometime in the next couple weeks).  The warblers were mainly feeding on poison ivy berries (a common food source for overwinter Yellow rumped Warblers in the area). With my sightings this morning I have know seen and photographed at least one warbler species in Hampshire County for 58 continuous months.  Although it was much warmer today I'm already missing my time in Costa Rica recently and look forward to getting down to the tropics again soon.

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Feb 3, 2022

****addition...Although raining a bit and having an icy walk in I checked on the Yellow rumped Warblers at Mitch's Way on Thursday and found at least two still present.