First week of October warblers

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 6, 2022

Nashville Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 6, 2022

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 6, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 6, 2022

American Redstart, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 6, 2022

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Hadley, MA, Oct 6, 2022

Common Yellowthroat, Hadley, MA, Oct 6, 2022

The weather finally changed for Thursday and we had sun and temps that eventually reached the 70's...quite an improvement over the last several days.  This weather would have been perfect for turning up lingering species if it had happened at the beginning of the month instead of the end of the first week after several nights of good migration conditions thanks to northerly winds but I still had a good day of warblers with nine species.  Palm Warblers were the most abundant species with Yellow rumped Warblers a close second.  I spent a good portion of the morning at Arcadia arriving there early and staying for around four hours before heading back across the river with a quick stop in Hadley.  No big rarities but did have my first Tennessee Warbler and Nashville Warblers for the month.  Tomorrow will certainly be another good day with similarly sunny and warm conditions but I have to work so someone else will have to be out there finding the good stuff.

Yellow Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 4, 2022

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 4, 2022

Although the forecast originally called for the winds to slacken off a bit starting on Tuesday that just did not occur and the strong northeast winds continued throughout the day with rain starting by mid morning and continuing on and off throughout the rest of the day.  I was really getting sick of the conditions and the lack of warbler activity so I decided to try to get out looking again in the hopes of turning some up.  There was actually a little bit of sun early at Arcadia but it didn't last too long.  I walked a lot of areas and had five species of warblers scattered around with the most notable being a late Yellow Warbler and a high count of eight Common Yellowthroats.  I birded a few other areas and came across another Yellow Warbler at the Holyoke Dam among a large group of Yellow rumped Warblers before the rain started up again.

Wednesday I had family obligations so was not able to get out much at all but given the weather conditions (rain, wind and temps in the 50's)  I doubt I missed much.

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Ware, MA, Oct 2, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 2, 2022

Common Yellowthroat, Belchertown Land Trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, Oct 3, 2022

The interaction of the remnant low and high pressure to our north caused the winds to really crank out of the northeast starting on the night of the first and continued throughout Sunday.  This certainly made tracking down warblers tough but I gave it a try in Ware and had just four species although one was a late Cape May Warbler.  During the afternoon on Sunday I was inside studying and glanced out the window and saw some movement in the trees in the yard..  I stepped outside and found a mixed flock moving through that contained five species of warblers with numbers of Blackpoll Warblers and Yellow rumped Warblers.  It was tough to keep track of them all and a few certainly got past me without being identified.

Monday continued with the windy, cool weather and the warblers were few and far between again with just five species and few photographic opportunities.

Common Yellowthroat, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Oct 1, 2022

Black and White Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 1, 2022

Northern Parula, Belchertown, MA, Oct 1, 2022

Black throated Green Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 1, 2022

Blackpoll Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 1, 2022

On the first day of the month I had plans to get out early before the rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ian arrived but the forecast for the rain holding off until late morning was wrong.  The light rain instead began a little before seven and continued until late morning.  Nonetheless I still eventually found some warblers although the pickings were slim during the rainy part of the morning and I only added a little variety after the rain stopped.  My stops during the rain in Hadley turned up only four species despite hitting some good habitat.  The temps stayed around 50 with a slight breeze at times so not great weather to turn up warblers.  I added another half dozen after running across a mixed flock in Belchertown and brought the total for the first day of the month to ten species...not too bad considering the cool, breeze and wet conditions.  There definitely was in influx of Blackpoll Warblers in the area and I turned them up at most every stop with several around in a few spots.