After thinking it was prime time for a Yellow throated Warbler to make an appearance I noticed a report late in the day yesterday of a Yellow throated Warbler that was seen in Sunderland by Mason W. and he was able to get some photos providing some great documentation. Yellow throated Warbler is one of a handful of southern US warblers that occasionally overshoots a bit in spring and ends up more north than typical but is one of the rarer ones to do so. I have long had this species on my mind as one I would love to find in Hampshire County at some point but with only a handful of records for the species ever (only one eBird record ever for the county and that was back in October of 2010) the chances are low. Looking at the venerable 'Birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts' (from 1937) it mentions just three valley records and all of those are not considered as slam dunks for being the correct ID with just one of those reports in Hampshire County. Looking at all these sources there are less than a dozen records for the species anywhere in the four counties of western mass and the sightings are split about even between early spring and fall. I typically would not venture out of Hampshire County for a bird but for a very rare warbler I decided to make an exception. I made the drive up to Mt. Toby State Forest in Sunderland in the area of Cranberry Pond early in the morning and arrived a bit after six. I know from previous experience that relocating rare warblers can be a bit frustrating and many times the bird is not relocated. I hoped that the less than optimal migration conditions overnight would keep the bird in the area. Once I arrived on site I started walking the road and within a short time I heard an odd song that I was almost certain was the target and after a bit of looking I had some distant looks in bad light. The bird was very active and singing fairly often (a bit of an odd song compared to other Yellow throated Warblers I have heard but the species is quite variable in its song). I managed to get some recordings and then spent some time trying to get better looks and some photos. After a bit of waiting I had the bird work down lower as I was in an elevated spot and I got some decent photos (the photos showed the individual to likely be from the dominica race with its yellow supraloral although the yellow is less extensive then others of the race I have seen). After its brief decent down lower it went back up to the upper parts of the trees and continued to sing even as I was leaving. I have only had one other sighting of the species in the state and that was a bird coming to a feeder in Worcester that I saw on Christmas Eve 2020 during the height of the pandemic when I could not travel out of the country in the winter and was forced to stay in the local area. In addition to the Yellow throated Warbler there were a couple Palm Warblers, a Pine Warbler and a Louisiana Waterthrush in the area with the only species seeming to associate at all with the Yellow throated Warbler being the Palm Warblers. Full Flickr album with all the photos of the bird at the following link: Yellow throated Warbler. Big thanks to Mason for finding and reporting the bird and providing additional details.
After my time with the Yellow throated Warbler I headed back into Hampshire County and made a few stops on my way back home including the rail trail in Amherst and Lake Wallace. Both locations (as well as a few other brief stops) featured numbers of Yellow rumped Warblers and Palm Warblers plus a few Pine Warblers. While I was out walking along the rail trail I saw that an experienced birder had another sighting of a Yellow throated Warbler down at Stebbins in southern Hampden County. I certainly kept an eye and ear out for another one during my above mentioned stops as well as others during the morning but no luck. Having two Yellow throated Warblers in the valley at the same time is without precedent and I'm certain there are others out there just waiting to be found and I will certainly be out there looking and encourage everyone else to do the same over the next few days at least. As mentioned above the song of the Yellow throated Warbler can be a bit variable and perhaps sounds like a little like an odd Yellow throated Warbler (which is what the bird ID app Merlin identified the song of the Yellow throated Warbler as when I tried it out). So if you are someone that uses Merlin then track down any odd sounding bird that Merlin identifies as a Yellow rumped Warbler.
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