More warblers arrive before good migration conditions end for a few days

Black and White Warbler, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Apr 26, 2022

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Apr 26, 2022

Northern Parula, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Apr 26, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 19, 2022

Warbler migration continues to ramp up but after a couple of nights of somewhat decent migration conditions the weather over the next few days into the weekend looks to feature strong north winds and cooler temps.  I don't foresee a big influx of warblers until May 1st or so.  Nonetheless some birds will make it into the area despite the less than ideal migration conditions and today certainly turned up some new ones for me as well as a noticeable influx of Yellow rumped Warblers.  This morning alone I added three new warblers for the year in Hampshire County with my first Black throated Green Warbler, Northern Parula and Ovenbird.  I'm now up to ten species in the county so far this year with lots more to come very soon.  

Pine Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 21, 2022

I got a second species of warbler at the water feature for the year with the capture of a Pine Warbler.

First Black and White Warbler of the season and the first warbler at the water feature

Black and White Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 18, 2022

Black and White Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 18, 2022

Pine Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 18, 2022

Pine Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 18, 2022

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 18, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 18, 2022

After a cold and windy day yesterday where the high barely made 40 and we had a few snow showers today was much nicer with sunny conditions throughout the day and temps that made it to the upper 50's.  After seeing a report that Aaron had a couple early warblers in Southampton yesterday (a Common Yellowthroat and a Prairie Warbler) I headed out this morning in search of other early arriving warblers.  Until this point I have had four species of warbler for the month (Louisiana Waterthrush, Pine Warbler, Palm Warbler and Yellow rumped Warblers) with Palm Warblers being the most numerous overall.  I stopped at several location in the local area and finally found a new species with a singing Black and White Warbler at Quabbin Park. My earliest record for the species in the county was back in 2017 when I had one in Hadley on April 17 (more on early/late records for me in the county at the following link from 2019...I'll have to update the list at some point but it is mainly accurate).  Overall for the morning I had five species of warbler.

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 16, 2022

The camera on the water feature has captured the first warbler of the season, a Yellow rumped Warbler.  Usually it is a Pine Warbler that makes an appearance first but not this year despite multiples singing around the yard the last several days.

Half way through April

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Apr 15, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Apr 15, 2022

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Apr 13, 2022

Pine Warbler, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Apr 13, 2022

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 11, 2022

As the middle of April has arrived the warblers are really starting to increase with a notable increase in Palm Warbler as well as Yellow rumped Warblers, Pine Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrushes.  Overall the largest numbers have been Palm Warblers over the last few days with double digit counts at multiple locations.  I'm closely looking through all the warblers I see in the hopes of turning up something unusual or early among them but so far no luck.  

Record early Louisiana Waterthrush and the first Pine and Palm Warblers

 

Louisiana Waterthrush, Williamsburg, MA, Apr 5, 2022

Louisiana Waterthrush, Williamsburg, MA, Apr 5, 2022

Pine Warbler, Herman Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, Apr 5, 2022

Pine Warbler, Herman Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, Apr 5, 2022

Pine Warbler, Herman Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, Apr 5, 2022

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 5, 2022

Once I got out of work today I headed up to Williamsburg to follow up on a couple Louisiana Waterthrushes that Mary found the day before.  I normally would not have made the ride up but getting one today would be a record early date for me for the species in Hampshire County so I figured I would give it a try.  I found at least one singing (and possibly a second one) but trying to get looks at it took some time.  I eventually found it singing perhaps 30-40 feet up in a tree (It is not too unusual to have the species singing fairly high up when they first arrive on territory.  My previous early date for the species was April 7 in 2020 when I had two singing in different spots (also in Williamsburg).  The early arrival is especially noteworthy as conditions have been less than ideal for migration lately and Pine and Palm Warblers have both been behind a bit for their first arrival into the county.  In fact, despite a lot of looking from late March into early April, I only managed to turn up my first Pine Warbler on April 3rd and that individual showed up in the yard and not in all the usual typical spots where the first arriving individuals of the species are usually found.  Today turned out to be a good day for early season warblers as I turned up my first Palm Warbler also.  All of these species will be on the increase as the month goes on.