Hot on the heels of the second Connecticut Warbler I found in Ware yesterday I had an exceptional long visit with another individual today in Belchertown. I have been trying to expand to new area this year to track down Connecticut Warblers and so far it has paid off quite well. I started off my morning with a visit up to Pelham where I had just half a dozen species and not many individuals. I then headed to a spot in Belchertown and started my walk with a few Pine Warblers still singing. I made it to an edge area with young birches and white pines that gets the sun early and quickly turned up a couple Yellow Warblers, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Cape May Warbler and Tennessee Warbler. As I was trying to get photos of the Tennessee Warbler I noticed some movement down low and expected to see a Common Yellowthroat but instead saw a beautiful Connecticut Warbler. It quickly dropped down and out of view and I had little hope of relocating it again....it is not a species that is easy to relocate once you lose view of it (and most views of the species are fleeting at best!). I moved a little bit and checked for movement and after about five minutes I saw a bird down low and it was the Connecticut Warbler! It is always tough to get any looks at the species around here but today would be the exception! As I maneuvered to try to get better looks and hopefully some photos the warbler fed quite actively on a variety of caterpillars in an area of Eastern White Pines. I fired off hundreds of photos and managed to get a few decent ones plus got a video of the bird as it walked along the branches (I think the first video I have ever obtained of the species). I had the bird in view for over 45 minutes...easily the longest I have ever had with the species in view around here. Not the best photos I have ever gotten of the species but it was a gift to be with this typically very skulking species for such a long time. I only heard the bird give a call once during my entire time of watching it. This becomes my third Connecticut Warbler of the fall and one I'm not likely to soon forget. I usually find the species by hearing it call but two of the three so far have been found by seeing it pop up first. Link to the eBird list with additional photos and a video here.
I also had some other unusual species for the day and those are covered here.
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