Third time was a charm for finding a rare warbler for winter today, with a Pine Warbler at a private residence in Northampton. I tried and failed to see it on two previous occasions since it first appeared on December 16th with the arrival of our first appreciable snow of the year. The weather in the last few days has changed to full on winter with temperatures in the single digits, strong winds and a little snow and ice at the end of a rainstorm and I hoped the bird would return to the feeders with this change in weather. I got a message from the homeowner where the Pine Warbler has been seen and she said she had it coming in during our brutally cold conditions yesterday. Unfortunately I was working so I had no chance to try to see it. She was nice enough to offer me another chance to try for it on Christmas morning. After a very busy shift at work I arrived at the house a little after eight with temps around 10 degrees but thankfully little wind (at least initially). I watched the various feeders intently and had lots of birds coming and going including the dark American Goldfinch I found there on the 21st plus at least one banded Black capped Chickadee (a different individual from another banded bird I had there on previous visits). I also had some flyby Red Crossbills (at least 4) but I was not quick enough to get any recordings. After nearly an hour I was getting really cold and the warbler had still not yet made an appearance for me. As I was contemplating how much longer I would wait I had a group of Eastern Bluebirds come in and almost immediately after the Pine Warbler finally made an appearance! He hopped from perch to perch below a mealworm feeder but he seemed a bit deterred by the bluebirds so he did not go into feed while I was looking. I got a number of photos and was quite happy he finally showed. The Pine Warbler becomes my third warbler species for December in Hampshire County following Yellow rumped Warbler and Common Yellowthroat seen earlier. As mentioned in an earlier post Pine Warbler is very rare in the county in the winter and my only other winter record is one that overwintered at a private residence in Granby back in 2020 (post about the bird in January and February). As long as there is ample feed at a feeder a Pine Warbler can successful overwinter here so hopefully this one will make it through winter. I know I will be keeping my fingers crossed it makes it through into the new year when I will once again hope the homeowner will allow me to come by and see the bird to start 2023 (much thanks to Marcia for letting me come by for this bird).
Link to post about other rarities for the day here.
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