I headed out to start May before dawn on yet another chilly spring morning. Although migration conditions were not great last night I figured some species would still move even with less than perfect conditions. I decided on birding some areas of Hadley. I started off at Mitch's Way and made sure to stay on the road as there were turkey hunters in the area. It was quite slow for warblers initially with the cold temps the likely culprit. I did get my first Northern Waterthrush for the county for the year plus five other species. As I was already in the area I decided to hike up to the top of the mountain in Skinner SP in the hopes Cerulean Warbler and/or Worm eating Warblers had arrived. I almost didn't bother making the hike up as I was not certain with of the species would be present but figured I would try. Once I got up above Taylor's Notch I heard and then saw my first Worm eating Warbler of the year. This was quickly followed by a Cerulean Warbler. Happy to see a couple of each species back in the area for another summer. I checked the two Cerulean Warblers closely for any bands without finding any. It will be interesting if any of the banded warblers return this year (more on that from a post last year regarding the banding of the species locally) The Worm eating Warbler and Cerulean Warbler became species #39 and #40 for me for the year in the US as the goal to see them all this year comes closer. After my time I headed up to the rail trail in Amherst and added a number of species for the day with a total of 16 species. Not a bad way to start out May with lots more good stuff to come.
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