A second Common Yellowthroat in January!

 

Common Yellowthroat, Amherst, MA, Jan 7, 2023

Common Yellowthroat, Amherst, MA, Jan 7, 2023

Common Yellowthroat, Amherst, MA, Jan 7, 2023

Common Yellowthroat, Amherst, MA, Jan 7, 2023

Common Yellowthroat (second individual seen nearby a couple days before)., Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jan 5, 2023 

Hot on the heels of one I had a couple days ago I had another Common Yellowthroat this morning in Amherst.  This individual is different from the one I had along the rail trail on Thursday with the one on Thursday having a partial mask and the bird today being a female with no mask.  The one today is almost certainly the same one John Y. found in the same area several days ago.  I had tried for this bird a couple days ago and failed to relocate it.  I was out in the area again this morning and although I was really starting to fade, I decided to give the bird one more try before I headed home to rest a bit.  I walked in along a muddy and slushy path to the general area where John had it and started looking for it.  There was a group of chickadees in the area and as I watched them I thought I heard a yellowthroat call.  I pished a few times and saw a flash of yellow deep in a thicket and a quick look with the binoculars showed a beautiful Common Yellowthroat...a great way to finish my morning and make me forget how tired I was getting.  I got a few photos as it worked its way through a marshy thicket.  The bird only called a handful of times so would be easy to overlook. Having one Common Yellowthroat in the area is amazing but to have to within just a short distance is on another level for this area in January.  Before these two birds I had only had a single Common Yellowthroat sighting in the entire time period of January-March here (my first was in January 2019) in Hampshire County.  There are just a handful of records for the species in all of western mass for winter.  I suspect the continued above normal temperatures and lack of snow cover is allowing for the species to survive into winter.  I'm sure there are more individuals out there just waiting to be found so I encourage everyone to take a look and listen in any marshy areas.