I started off the month of February trying my best to track down at least one warbler species to continue my streak of having at least one warbler species per month in Hampshire County and I'm happy to say I succeeded. I began my morning along the river in Hadley where I walked in to an area I have had a Yellow rumped Warbler since early December and where I last was it on January 10th. I arrived before sunrise to temperatures in the upper teens but calm winds and clear skies. I walked into general area and spent well over an hour walking back and forth before I heard a Yellow rumped Warbler calling distantly. I tried for a distant recording but couldn't manage to capture anything worthwhile. The bird was calling from posted property so I couldn't try to track it down. Nonetheless I had managed to find a warbler species to start the new month and extended my streak to 70 consecutive months of finding at least one warbler species in the county.
I then travelled across the river to the East Meadows to try to find a Yellow rumped Warbler I had at the location in early January, but despite my best effort I had no luck finding it today. As it was starting to warm up a bit by this point I decided to head over to a few spots in Amherst to try to find one (or both) of the Common Yellowthroats I had as recently as January 28th. I figured today would give me my best chance to get the species in February as I suspect the upcoming bout of bitter cold air and wind would either kill the birds or drive them further south. I tried the first location and had no luck so I headed to the second location. Despite being able to cover more areas of the marsh as the water levels had dropped a bit I failed to find a yellowthroat. I then figured I would try the first location one more time and after a lot of waiting and getting a wet foot after breaking through some ice, I had the bird call a couple times over the course of 20 minutes but it never showed itself. Neither of the yellowthroats have been very cooperative at all lately so I was not surprised to only get a couple calls and no sightings. I will certainly follow up on both locations after the cold snap to see if by chance they make it through. This makes my latest date ever for the species and may be the only record for the species ever in February in Hampshire County.
At this point in the morning (around eleven) I figured I had enough time to make a trip back down along the river in Hadley to try to relocate the Yellow rumped Warbler I had earlier and perhaps get a photo of the bird. After a bit of looking and waiting I heard the bird chipping a bit and saw it relatively low. The bird then quickly worked its way up higher and further away but I was able to snap a few photos before it disappeared yet again. A very successful start to February with two species of warbler.
