November comes to an end

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

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Nov 1, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Nov 7, 2022

Orange crowned Warbler, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Nov 7, 2022

Palm Warbler 'western', Hadley mall thicket, Hadley, MA, Nov 20, 2022

November has now come to an end and we now enter the time period where warblers become exceedingly tough to find here and I look to going south to get out of the winter chill and find warblers.  This November in Hampshire County I found a total of five species (Orange crowned Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Palm Warbler (both subspecies) and Yellow rumped Warbler).  Most of these were early in the month although I did have my latest date ever for a 'western' Palm Warbler on November 20th.  Finding anything beyond a Yellow rumped Warbler (and even that can be difficult) during the next three months will be tough but I will try.  

Very late 'western' Palm Warbler plus a couple Yellow rumped Warblers today

Palm Warbler 'western', Hadley mall thicket, Hadley, MA, Nov 20, 2022

Palm Warbler 'western', Hadley mall thicket, Hadley, MA, Nov 20, 2022

Palm Warbler 'western', Hadley mall thicket, Hadley, MA, Nov 20, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Hadley mall thicket, Hadley, MA, Nov 20, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Hadley mall thicket, Hadley, MA, Nov 20, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Hadley mall thicket, Hadley, MA, Nov 20, 2022

After a long night of an overtime shift I headed out to this morning to take advantage of the no hunting on Sundays and hit a few areas I normally would not go to during the rest of the week.  The past week plus of November has been very cold for this time of year and I have not had a lot of luck tracking down any warblers with just a couple of Yellow rumped Warblers in a couple spots in Hadley despite visiting a lot of areas that have produced late warblers some years.  It was a cold start and I first headed over to Arcadia to check areas I have had overwintering Yellow rumped Warblers in the past but had no luck. I then headed over to the East Meadows and arrived just as the cold front was arriving around eight. The clouds looked threatening and produced a few flurries but the big change was the pick up in the wind (which stayed up the rest of the day). No luck locating any warblers in that location either. At this point I decided to try the Hadley DPW but the wind was strong and made seeing and/or hearing birds tough. I decided to try one more place before throwing in the towel on finding warblers for the day. I saw a report from Cory that he had a Yellow rumped Warbler at Silvio Conte NWR -Fort River and briefly thought of going there but I decided instead to go by the Hadley Mall to follow up on the single Yellow rumped Warbler I had there a couple days before. When I arrived I heard a Yellow rumped Warbler calling. I quickly got my camera and binoculars out and headed toward a small thicket and almost immediately saw a bird low in the thicket pumping its tail and quickly identified it as a ‘western’ Palm Warbler…a good bird for this late in the season. In fact it is my second latest date for the species in Hampshire County (latest was a ‘yellow’ subspecies on November 28, 2018) and it is my latest record ever for the western subspecies in the county.  After getting some photos of the Palm Warbler I got some photos of the two Yellow rumped Warblers present. I also had another warbler that called just a couple times and was not a Palm or Yellow rumped Warbler. I saw what I believe was the unidentified warbler flying away in bad light. No idea what it was but it was certainly something very interesting. It appeared that all the warblers were feeding off of something (probably insects) at the base of leaves in the thicket. I was really surprised to find any warblers given how cold and windy it was.  I will certainly be checking this thicket again over the next few weeks as it has produced some great late season warblers in the past with the small area producing multiple Tennessee Warbler and a Wilson's Warbler in mid November of 2020.

Latest taxonomic update complete in eBird with some newly named warbler species

Black lored Yellowthroat, Uzhcurrumi, Azuay, Ecuador, Nov 8, 2021

Black lored Yellowthroat (Maranon Yellowthroat subspecies), Zumba, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 11, 2021

The recent taxonomic update for 2022 at eBird has added a few warbler species to the official eBird list and I will take a look at them below and how these changes impact my quest to see them all.  

The first splits involve Masked Yellowthroat which has been split into three separate species: Masked Yellowthroat (Northern South America from Colombia through Brazil including the southern Lesser Antilles...hopefully I can catch up with this species when I head to Trinidad in March),  Black lored Yellowthroat (primarily eastern Ecuador through the mid section of Peru), and Southern Yellowthroat (a widespread section of central South America).  I have seen Black lored Yellowthroat in Ecuador including the Maranon subspecies.  The entire yellowthroat complex is in a word, complex.  The various species and subspecies have been moved around over the years and many are likely unique species and I expect to see more splits as additional study reveal more details.  

The next split involves the widespread Three striped Warbler that has many subspecies that could be elevated to full species at some point.  A couple of species were broken off from the main group a few years ago and became Costa Rican Warbler (in Costa Rica and Panama) and Tacarcuna Warbler (in the very remote area of the Darian on the border of Panama and Colombia).  The newest split is Yungas Warbler which occurs in the Andes of southeast Peru to eastern Bolivia.  I have seen Three striped Warbler in Ecuador and Colombia and have had Costa Rican Warbler in Costa Rica.

The final split involves Golden bellied Warbler which has been split into two species.  The first species is Cuzco Warbler which occurs on the east slope of the Andes from central Peru down to eastern Bolivia.  The second newly named species is Choco Warbler, which occurs in western Colombia down to northwest Ecuador.  I have seen Choco Warbler in a few spots in Ecuador but sadly no photos.

The splits give me more species to go after as I continue on my quest to see all the new world warbler species.

Late warblers on another very warm day

 

 Orange crowned Warbler, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Nov 7, 2022

Orange crowned Warbler, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Nov 7, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Nov 7, 2022

Nashville Warbler, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Nov 7, 2022

I ended the last of a four day stretch of days with high temps that topped out in the low to mid 70's looking for a couple late warblers at Great Pond and luckily finding both.  Mary initially found them on Saturday but I didn't have a chance to look for them until this morning due to work obligations.  I arrived at the location a little before eight with a temperature in the mid 60's that only warmed up from there (typical high temps now are in the low to mid 50's so a warm day for sure).  Within just a few minutes I found a couple Yellow rumped Warblers and with them was a slightly late Orange crowned Warbler.  Orange crowned Warbler is a low density migrant in the area and can show up anywhere from late September through November and can be quite tough to find some years (this is just my second sighting of the fall).  I got a few photos before the bird moved out of view and never showed itself again.  I then walked a few areas in the immediate area and eventually turned up a Nashville Warbler travelling by itself plus at least one more Yellow rumped Warbler.  The Nashville Warbler is getting quite late (my latest date ever was last year when I had multiples on October 22nd with any record into November noteworthy).  With the addition of these two species this morning I have now had five species of warbler for the month.

Three warbler species to begin November

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

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

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Nov 1, 2022

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Nov 1, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Nov 1, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Nov 1, 2022

November started off with low clouds and drizzle and occasional light rain but I nonetheless had some decent luck turning up some warblers to start out the month.  After I got out of work I headed east to Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River where I fairly quickly turned up a late Common Yellowthroat in the same general area I have had one for the last several days.  At least it showed a little better today compared to my previous run ins with this particular individual and I was able to get a few photos.  I then walked to a nearby area and had at least two Palm Warblers plus several Yellow rumped Warblers.  I then headed over to Hickory Ridge and had more Yellow rumped Warblers in a couple different spots.  By a bit after nine the rain picked up a bit and I headed for home.  Given the rainy weather conditions I was quite happy to find three species of warbler this morning.  The next week or so looks to feature above normal temperatures and multiple days of sunny weather so hopefully I will be able to find some other lingering warbler species.  It will be tough to beat my best November ever in the county back in 2020 when I had eight species but I will try.