When I headed out this morning on yet another hot and humid day I did not expect to run across not one but two early migrant warblers in the same small area in Ware but that is indeed what I did when I found a Tennessee Warbler and a Northern Parula. I started my morning at Quabbin Park where I walked a couple trails before the park gates opened and found a half dozen species of warbler. I then had some errands to run in Ware so decided to hit a spot in that town. Once I started walking down the trail the area seemed quite active with birds and one of the first birds on got the binoculars on was a Tennessee Warbler! Not at all what I expected to find here on August 8th. This species usually does not start to show up until September. The sighting today is the second earliest record for the species in eBird for the county (one earlier date of 8/6) and my earliest date ever for the species in fall (previous early date 8/17). After getting some record shots of the bird I headed a little further down the trail turning up more birds and within just a few minutes got my eyes on a Northern Parula...yet another early migrant. This sighting is my second earliest fall record of the species with my earliest being last year when I had one on August 3rd. Given the weather the last week with high temps and humidity and the wind mainly out of the south I was quite surprised to find two early migrants today. In addition to the two early migrant warblers I also had a slightly late Louisiana Waterthrush while out for a walk with Wilson.
Besides the unusual warblers mentioned above I had several other species including my first Blue winged Warblers for the month and a total of eight species of warbler in Ware alone and a luck 13 total species for the day.
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