Late Mourning Warbler yesterday

On my to work yesterday morning I made a brief stop at Pines Edge Conservation Area in Northampton in the slim chance of turning a Red headed Woodpecker that was at the location several days ago.  Although I had no luck with the woodpecker I did find a very late Mourning Warbler singing near the edge of a large marsh area.  The mosquitoes were horrendous so it was tough to stay still enough to get even a short recording.  After getting a few marginal recordings I headed back out to get out of the mosquito swarm.  I heard back from the Mourning Warbler researcher and the bird is from the Newfoundland regiolect and is very late in moving up to its breeding grounds.

Banding a Cerulean Warbler

Cerulean Warbler being banded, Jun 3, 2025

Cerulean Warbler being color banded, Jun 3, 2025

Cerulean Warbler measurements being taken, Jun 3, 2025

Cerulean Warbler ready for release after being banded, Jun 3, 2025

I got to witness the banding of a Cerulean Warbler this morning thanks to a heads up from one of the biologists taking part in a multi state study on this declining species.  The species is at the northern end of its range in this area and there is only one well known and long term breeding location which is located at Skinner State Park on the South Hadley/Hadley line.  At least three males have been banded at that location  and I spotted two of them on May 20th.  The bird this morning is located in a different area and could be breeding.  The focused banding operation captures the birds and gives each a typical federal band (with a unique number sequence) as well as color bands.  The color bands allow researchers the ability to identify individuals without having to recapture them.  The birds are captured in mist net and then rapidly removed at which point they are weighed, measured and banded within just a few minutes before they are released back into the wild.  It is always cool to see the banding process up close and especially so with a fairly rare species in this area.  Once the banding was complete I was able to release the guy...always amazing how tiny and light they are when you consider how far they migrate every year which is down to the mountains of South America.

Warblers for May

Pine Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 31, 2025

Common Yellowthroat, Muddy Brook WMA, Hardwick, MA, May 29, 2025

Blue winged Warbler, Muddy Brook WMA, Hardwick, MA, May 29, 2025

Black and White Warbler, Ware, MA, May 29, 2025

Cerulean Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 28, 2025

Magnolia Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 24, 2025

Blackpoll Warbler, Rail Trail, Ware, MA, May 24, 2025

Bay breasted Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 23, 2025

Blue winged x Golden winged Warbler hybrid, Quabbin Park, MA, May 21, 2025

Northern Parula, Quabbin Park, MA, May 21, 2025

Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025

Yellow Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 19, 2025

Chestnut sided Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 14, 2025

Ovenbird, UMASS Demonstration Forest, Belchertown, MA, May 13, 2025

Tennessee Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 12, 2025

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 12, 2025

Orange crowned Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 12, 2025

Canada Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 12, 2025

Prairie Warbler, Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, May 8, 2025

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', UMASS, Amherst, MA, May 4, 2025

Brewster's Warbler, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, May 2, 2025

Pine Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 1, 2025

American Redstart, Quabbin Park, MA, May 1, 2025

May has now come to an end and the big month of warblers here is over for another year.  It was a good month despite the migration overall seeming to be a little earlier and with lots of nights of good migration conditions until late in the month with the birds moving through fairly rapidly.  I also had some other commitments that kept me from being out for as long as I usually would be out on some days.  Nonetheless I still had lots of warblers including a couple Orange crowned Warblers, a Hooded Warbler, a Brewster's Warbler and multiple other Blue winged x Golden winged hybrids.  I found a total of 30 species of warblers in the county for the month, which is about average.  I had one unusual warbler at the house (at least for my yard) to end out the month with my second ever record of Blue winged Warbler.  

Mourning Warblers have arrived

Mourning Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 27, 2025

Mourning Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 27, 2025

After enduring multiple days with poor migration conditions that settled in just as the typical Mourning Warbler migration starts to show up in the area the weather finally became a bit more conducive for late season migrants to arrive.  Although it was cloudy and cool once again on Saturday I was out looking and listening for any Mourning Warblers that might have arrived.  My first stop in Ware did not turn up any and I got a text from Mary letting me know she had one along the rail trail in Amherst.  I almost headed there but I didn't have a lot of time to spare so decided to stay with my original plan of going to Quabbin Park.  After a bit of looking I found a couple Mourning Warblers and got recordings of one of the birds.  I missed on a photo of either one as I was concentrating on getting a recording.  I sent the recordings off to a researcher studying the four different regiolects of songs of Mourning Warblers and heard back the bird is part of the Newfoundland group.  The Mourning Warbler becomes warbler species #30 for the year in Hampshire County.  I ran across another one in Hadley yesterday and then two more today in the Quabbin area and got recordings of one of them.  I will update when I hear back regarding the vocal group of the one today.

I will be sending off the recording to a researcher who studies the different regiolects of the species.  The Mourning Warbler becomes warbler species #30 for Hampshire County for the year.

Blue winged x Golden winged Warbler hybrids this spring

 

Brewster's Warbler, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, May 2, 2025

Blue winged x Golden winged Warbler hybrid, Quabbin Park, MA, May 8, 2025

Blue winged x Golden winged Warbler hybrid, Rail trail, Ware, MA, May 9, 2025

Blue winged x Golden winged Warbler hybrid, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, May 11, 2025

Blue winged x Golden winged Warbler hybrid, Quabbin Park, MA, May 21, 2025

Blue winged x Golden winged Warbler hybrid, Quabbin Park, MA, May 23, 2025

Brewster's Warbler, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, May 25, 2025

As I typically do I tracked down as many Blue winged Warbler songs as I could for the spring and was rewarded with a number of hybrids.  I found a single Brewster's Warbler returning to the same spot along the rail trail in Amherst on May 2nd.  It was singing a typical Blue winged Warbler song and it continued through today when I saw it once again.  Despite a lot of looking I was unable to find any rare Lawrence's Warblers for the spring.  I also had a number of other hybrids which consisted of birds that mainly looked like typical Blue winged Warblers but with yellow wing bars/wing patches.  Some of these same typical Blue winged Warbler songs and others sang unusual songs.  I also ran across a number of what appeared to be typically Blue winged Warbler singing odd songs including a returning individual along the rail trail in Amherst that sang a Golden winged Warbler like song.  I did have one bird that got away on a windy and cold day at Quabbin when I heard a warbler that sounded a lot like a Golden winged Warbler I found in almost the exact same area back in late May 2017.  I tried my best to find it both that day and on subsequent days without any luck.

Two color banded Cerulean Warblers at Skinner State Park

 

Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025

Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025

Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025

Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025

Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025

With the forecast calling for another cool day with windy conditions I didn't hold out a lot of hope for getting much birding in.  After getting some stuff done at the house I noticed it was not nearly as breezy as I expected it to be.  With this in mind I decided I would try the couple hours I had free to bird in the Hadley area.  After a short walk along the river the wind was still not bad so I made the hike up the mountain at Skinner SP with the main goal being trying to track down a color banded Cerulean Warbler that was photographed at the location a few days ago.  Although there was some wind on the walk up once I got through the gap of the mountain at Taylor's Notch the conditions were much better.  Once I made it up near the top I spent some time trying to get looks at the few singing Cerulean Warblers among the nearly fully leafed out oaks.  Eventually I found one and got on it and could see bands but to my surprise the colors of the bands were not the same as the one photographed earlier (that bird had two yellow bands and my bird had two blue bands).  I got several photos of the bird before it disappeared further downslope.  Eventually I got looks at another singing bird and found the previously reported individual with two yellow bands.  Having two color banded Cerulean Warblers at the same spot certainly is exciting and makes me wonder who is conducting research on what is a declining species and one that breeds in only a few spots in the area (the unique color bands let researchers keep track of individuals without having to capture them again).  I reported the bands to the federal band birding laboratory and hopefully the information submitted will be enough to track down the who, why, when on the banding (no chance to read the very small aluminum federal band).  I will update if I hear anything back.  

Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025

Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025

Blackpoll Warbler, Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025

Common Yellowthroat, Quabbin Park, MA, May 20, 2025

American Redstart, Quabbin Park, MA, May 20, 2025

With some great luck with warblers (although no Mourning Warbler unfortunately) I decided to try to see as many species as I could with the rather limited time I had.  There was certainly an influx of Blackpoll Warblers and Canada Warblers as I had the species at multiple spots in numbers.  The wind became a factor and cut down on the ability to hear any distant birds and movement was near impossible to detect.  Nonetheless it was still a decent morning with 22 species...far from a record and not even my best day for the spring so far.  Given the date, other commitments and the upcoming weather featuring more wind and rain the chances of getting a really big warbler day this spring is rapidly dwindling.

Hooded Warbler this morning

Magnolia Warbler, UMASS, Amherst, MA, May 16, 2025

No photos of the Hooded Warbler unfortunately... 

While I was on my way to run some errands I saw a post from Aaron from UMASS saying the birding group of students had a Hooded Warbler on the northwest side of campus so I made sure I had a bit of time to try for it and headed in the direction of the campus.  I knew it was graduation weekend and the doctoral degrees were being awarded during the morning but I figured I was early enough to beat the crowds and came in the backside of the campus.  I arrived on campus and started the short walk out to the area where the bird was reported and arrived to find a Magnolia Warbler singing strongly and sounding a lot like a Hooded Warbler (I even tried an experiment with the often fallible Merlin app and it suggested both species as possibly making the song).  I thought perhaps the original observers had mistaken the Magnolia Warbler for a Hooded Warbler but given that they usually get their identifications correct I was still hopeful.  Steve arrived and we discussed the bird and decided to give it another try.  After awhile of listening to the Magnolia Warbler (as well as lots of other birds) we started walking out and then heard the Hooded Warbler fairly close.  Despite being so close we could never get a look at it as it moved through the woods.  It would go silent for periods and then start singing again.  I at least was able to get some recordings.  More birders arrived (including the original observers) and we continued to intermittently hear the bird singing.  After trying multiple vantage points I finally got a few second view of the bird in the upper part of a 75 foot tree and then it promptly disappeared.  A very frustrating bird to try to see for sure.  Nonetheless it was very nice to see the species in the county again.  This was my third UMASS record for the species, with the other records on the once very productive Orchard Hill on May 4, 2015 and May 16, 2018.  The species is slightly less than annual in county and I suspect they have bred a few times.  It was a decent warbler day overall even without being able to be out as much as usual and I finished with 23 species.  The Hooded Warbler becomes warbler species #29 for the county so far this year.

Another Orange crowned Warbler today

 

Orange crowned Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 12, 2025

Orange crowned Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 12, 2025

Orange crowned Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 12, 2025

Orange crowned Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 12, 2025

Orange crowned Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 12, 2025

After another great night of migration I decided to focus my time at Quabbin Park and I was able to find a second Orange crowned Warbler for the spring (my first was at UMASS on May 4th).  The individual today was singing a bit and showed better than the last one and I was able to get some photos and a crappy recording.  My previous post on the species in the fall shows just how unusual it is to find them during the northbound migration.  Besides the Orange crowned Warbler I had 22 other species of warblers within the park and is probably my highest species total for the spring so far.  I got some good counts of a number of species as the peak of migration is upon us.  Thought about trying to maximize warbler species for the day but just didn't have the time to spend visiting other areas due to other commitments.  

Canada Warbler and Tufted Titmouse, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 12, 2025

American Redstart, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 12, 2025

Black throated Green Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 12, 2025

Canada Warbler and Northern Cardinal, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 12, 2025

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Home, Belchertown, MA, May 12, 2025

The camera at the water feature had an epic day with five species of warblers that visited including a Canada Warbler (that stayed around all day and was only the second time capturing the species on the camera, Yellow rumped Warbler, Pine Warbler (I accidentally deleted that image unfortunately), Black throated Green Warbler and American Redstart.