Early Louisiana Waterthrush (and others)

Louisiana Waterthrush, Hadley, MA, Apr 6, 2023

Louisiana Waterthrush, Hadley, MA, Apr 6, 2023

Louisiana Waterthrush, Hadley, MA, Apr 6, 2023

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 6, 2023

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 6, 2023

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 6, 2023

After the most complete night of sleep in almost a week as I continue to fight a cold after returning from the topics I felt well enough to take a few longer walks (although by the end of them I was completely wiped out).  After a few stops looking for waterfowl and shorebirds I made my way to Hadley to follow up on an early Louisiana Waterthrush that Cory found yesterday.  I arrived at the location and quickly had the bird singing occasionally and after waiting a bit I had the bird work right past me and sing in plain view as I captured a few photos.  Although not my earliest date for the species in the county in comes very close with my earliest ever date being April 5th last year. There were also multiple Pine Warblers singing in the same location (as well as in many other spots the last few days).  I also made a stop by Lake Wallace and had at least a dozen Palm Warblers along the shoreline and showing well.  

Multiple new warblers on a southern Caribbean cruise including Whistling Warbler, Plumbeous Warbler and Masked Yellowthroat

Whistling Warbler, Montreal Nature Trails, St. Vincent, Mar 22, 2023

Plumbeous Warbler, Road to Morne Diablotin NP, Dominica, Mar 24, 2023

Recently back from a week long cruise out of Barbados visiting six different islands (Tobago, Trinidad, Saint Vincent, Grenada, Dominica and Saint Lucia).  My focus, not surprisingly, was on a number of new warblers including Masked Yellowthroat on Trinidad (a new species for me after a split last year), Whistling Warbler on St. Vincent and Plumbeous Warbler on Dominica.  I will cover each island below in the order we visited.  We stopped in Florida on the way to and the way back from the cruise and the warblers seen during those stops can be found at the following link.  Full trip report (birds beyond warblers included) at the following link: southern Caribbean cruise.

     American Redstart, Main Ridge Forest Reserve, Tobago, Mar 20, 2023      

During our first stop of the cruise in Tobago warblers did not figure prominently with few possible species to be seen but nonetheless I still had a couple species in the rainforest with a Northern Waterthrush and an American Redstart.  The guide for the day was Jason Radix (all the guides I had were excellent and I will list contact info for each at the end of the post).

Paria Peninsula, Venezuela (left) and Trinidad (right), At sea off Trinidad, Mar 21, 2023

Field with Masked Yellowthroat, Aranguez, Trinidad, Mar 21, 2023

The second stop was to the large island of Trinidad with the target warbler being the Masked Yellowthroat. Following the most recent taxonomic update I no longer had the species on my warbler list as the birds I had seen that were formally considered Masked Yellowthroats got split off into three new species (Masked Yellowthroat, Black lored Yellowthroat and Southern Yellowthroat).  On our way into port we sailed past the Paria Peninsula of Venezuela which contains an endemic warbler (Paria Redstart) that I'm likely never to see given the political climate of Venezuela.  I was off the ship right after eight and then met up with my guide for the day, Faraaz Abdool. We immediately headed to the most promising location within striking distance of the port for Masked Yellowthroat. After a few wrong turns we eventually made it to the location just after nine and started looking. The day was already getting hot with a fairly constant breeze…not great conditions for finding the warbler. As we watched and waited we turned up lots of other birds but no yellowthroat. The only warblers we had initially were a couple Northern Waterthrushes along the wet ditches. After getting stung by a wasp my luck turned around a little when I had a Masked Yellowthroat pop up ever so briefly. It dropped down out of view almost as fast as it appeared and I had no chance to get a photo. We waited a bit more for it to show up again but no luck so after one and a half hours plus we moved on to another less reliable spot for the yellowthroat and had no luck.  Other warblers for the day, besides the previously mentioned Masked Yellowthroat and Northern Waterthrush, included Yellow Warbler and American Redstart.  We tried one more time in the initial location for the yellowthroat on the way back to the ship but had no luck.

Whistling Warbler, Montreal Nature Trails, St. Vincent, Mar 22, 2023

Whistling Warbler, Montreal Nature Trails, St. Vincent, Mar 22, 2023

Whistling Warbler, Montreal Nature Trails, St. Vincent, Mar 22, 2023

Whistling Warbler, Montreal Nature Trails, St. Vincent, Mar 22, 2023

Whistling Warbler habitat, St Vincent, Mar 22, 2023

The third stop on the cruise to the island of Saint Vincent held one of the major targets for the trip with the endemic Whistling Warbler, a unique looking warbler of the forest. It is found within the rain forest and typically feeds quite actively among tense tangles so getting looks and photos can be a challenge. My guide for the day was Lystra and we met up in the port a little after eight and then made the drive up into the mountains to try for the warbler. We arrived near the Montreal trails in the St. Vincent Parrot Preserve a little after 9AM and started walking up the trails into the rain forest. The trail reminded me of many other steep trails in the tropics I have been on. The first spot we checked for the warbler initially didn’t produce it and sorting through the hordes of Bananaquits (the subspecies there is all black) without finding it was a bit frustrating. Nonetheless we persevered and I got quick views of a male that then dropped out of sight, never to be seen again after just a few seconds of viewing.   At this point I decided to try a few other spots further up the trail to try to get better looks and hopefully some photos before we moved on to try for any other target species for the day. The trail going up the mountain was a bit steep and muddy in spots and we finally reached the second location (of three the guide knew) and we started looking again. We got another individual that showed much better and allowed for some great photo opportunities. I was ecstatic to get this bird as I knew it was the rarest of the three targets on the trip. At this point the day was a complete success in my book and anything else seen was a bonus.  The Whistling Warblers were the only species of warbler for the entire day in the field.  Loads more photos for the day at the following link.

Midday beach during kayaking, Grenada, Mar 23, 2023

The stop in Grenada involved kayaking along the coast so no warblers for that day although I did try my best to turn up a warbler in the mangroves without luck.

Plumbeous Warbler, Road to Morne Diablotin NP, Dominica, Mar 24, 2023

Plumbeous Warbler, Road to Morne Diablotin NP, Dominica, Mar 24, 2023

Plumbeous Warbler, Road to Morne Diablotin NP, Dominica, Mar 24, 2023

Plumbeous Warbler, Road to Morne Diablotin NP, Dominica, Mar 24, 2023

Plumbeous Warbler, Road to Morne Diablotin NP, Dominica, Mar 24, 2023

The final target warbler for the trip was Plumbeous Warbler on the island of Dominica. It is a rear endemic, occurring on only Dominica and Guadeloupe.  I met up with the guide as soon as I could get off the ship and we started driving north.  He said the Plumbeous Warbler should be easy to find and he knew a spot where a pair were likely nesting right along the road.  As we worked our way up the mountain road into Morne Diablotin NP we made a stop and almost immediately had a Plumbeous Warbler that sang a few times and showed well. A really striking warbler and yet another species I have been waiting to see for years with hurricanes, cruise schedule changes and then Covid getting in the way.  I got loads of photos as we had a brief bit of sun before some rain showers moved back in.  The rest of the day was spent looking for other target species, which took a lot more effort than the warbler did.  We ran across another pair of Plumbeous Warblers as we walked out of the trail after failing to see the Imperial Parrot (we did get the other targets thankfully).  A full album of photos for the day in Dominica at the following link.

Dawn with then pitons on the south end of the island, At sea off St. Lucia, Mar 24, 2023

St. Lucia Warbler, Millet Nature Reserve, St. Lucia, Mar 12, 2019

The final port visited on the trip was Saint Lucia. I had previously visited the island back in March 2019 during which I found the endemic St Lucia Warbler during a trip to the Millet Reserve. During our stop we headed north from the port of Castries to Pigeon Island which featured some nature trails as well as ruins of fortifications. As I walked all the trails over the course of the morning into the early afternoon the only warbler I had during the visit to Pigeon Island was a single St Lucia Warbler that showed briefly.  Always somewhat sad to visit St. Lucia as it is the former location of one of the only extinct wood warblers...the Semper's Warbler.  There is a slight chance it hangs on in the most remote parts of the island but the chances are very low.

Overall for the cruise I found all my targets with a total of seven species of warblers with three of those new for me. The new species were Masked Yellowthroat, Whistling Warbler and Plumbeous Warbler. I have now seen every warbler north of South America except for two species that occur mainly in the remote and largely inaccessible area of the Darian area on the border of Panama and Colombia (Tacarcuna Warbler and Pirre Warbler).

As promised here is a link to each guide I used on the various islands.  All were found by using the Caribbean Birding Trail link and I would highly recommend one and all if taking a trip to any of the islands.  A special thanks to each guide for providing some great birding days.

-Tobago I used Jason Radix (www.naturetobago.com) 

-Trinidad I used Faraaz Abdool (www.faraazabdool.com)

-St. Vincent I used Lystra Culzac (lystraculzac_wilson@hotmail.com)

-Dominica I used Bertrand Jno Baptiste AKA Dr Birdy (drbirdy2@cwdom.dm)

Palm Warblers and Pine Warblers have started to arrive

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 4, 2023

Pine Warbler, Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, Apr 4, 2023

Today was the first day I have had two species of warbler in the county since having a Yellow rumped Warbler and a record late Common Yellowthroat back on February 1st.  I had multiple Palm Warblers (all eastern yellow type) and Pine Warblers at a number of stops during the morning.  I didn't get to cover as much ground as I wanted to as I continue to fight a cold but I was very happy to see Palm Warblers back and singing and Pine Warblers in many new spots, including at the house. 

Florida before and after a cruise from Barbados

Prairie Warbler, Green Cay Wetlands, Boynton Beach, FL, Mar 18, 2023

We flew down to Florida on Saturday the 18th so we could take an early flight over to Barbados to start our cruise. Most of our time on Saturday afternoon was spent driving or visiting family but managed a little birding with a late afternoon stop at Green Cay. Not surprisingly it was fairly quiet given the time but it was nice to be outside in the warmth. Warblers were in short supply during a brief period of birding with just four species but it was nice to hear a Prairie Warbler starting to sing.

Northern Parula, Everglades NP, FL, Mar 27, 2023

Black and White Warbler, Everglades NP, FL, Mar 27, 2023

Pine Warbler, Everglades NP, FL, Mar 27, 2023

Prairie Warbler, Everglades NP, FL, Mar 27, 2023

Palm Warbler 'western', Everglades NP, FL, Mar 27, 2023

American Redstart, Everglades NP, FL, Mar 27, 2023

After a delayed flight back from Barbados into Miami on the 26th that got us in much later than scheduled, we spent several hours hot hours the following day exploring the Everglades National Park from the east entrance down to Flamingo. This was the first time I had visited the area since two hurricanes devastated the area in 2005. I had made a few trips down to this area of the park back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s and the changes brought on by the hurricanes were still obvious now. There were a few warblers singing including Pine Warbler, Prairie Warbler and Northern Parula. I hoped to find some migrant flocks but conditions to bring in a big flight of early season migrants did not materialize. Overall I had eight species of warbler, with the most productive location being the area around Flamingo itself, even in the midday heat. 

Ovenbird, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, FL, Mar 28, 2023

Prairie Warbler, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, FL, Mar 28, 2023

Before making the flight back home in the evening on Tuesday the 28th we drove through the horrible Miami traffic down to the southern end of Key Biscayne to Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP.  Once again I had hoped some migrants would show up but conditions for overnight migration were poor.  The weather was sunny and hot and we never made it to the park until mid morning so warbler activity was somewhat low with half a dozen species present.  The location can also produce Swainson's Warblers during this time of year but no luck with that species.

Yellow rumped Warbler to start April

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Apr 2, 2023

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Apr 2, 2023

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Apr 2, 2023

After getting out of work this morning I met up with Devin in Hatfield to do a little birding while he was in town.  I was dead tired and suffering through a cold but I figured we could bird for awhile before I headed home to sleep.  As we were getting near the end of our birding time I spotted a Yellow rumped Warbler working its way along the edge of a field through some thickets and got a few digiscoped photos before it disappeared.  This now becomes my 72nd consecutive month of getting at least one warbler species in Hampshire County.  There will be lots more of these to come very soon hopefully.

Pine Warbler to end March

After a recent return from much warmer locations (much more on that trip in future posts) I ended the month of March trying to find a Pine Warbler. Typically there are at least a few around by the end of the month in the county. Following a delayed flight home that never arrived until the very early morning hours of the 29th I got a few hours sleep and then headed out to bird a bit. I was not solely looking for Pine Warblers but I did make a few stops in locations that usually feature them early in the season without any seen or heard. I had to work on the 30th so my last chance to turn one up was today.  After a brief stop in Hatfield to look for waterfowl I made a number of stops on the way home and failed to turn up any Pine Warblers by late morning.  I then stopped and got Wilson to take him for a walk and while we were out walking in Belchertown I had a single singing Pine Warbler...no photo as I was without a camera.  Happy to get another warbler for the month, which brings me to two species per month for the first three months of the year.  With the arrival of April will come more and more species as migration starts to pick up.

Yellow rumped Warbler to start March

Although still not feeling great I decided to take advantage of the relatively warm weather (40's) and sunny conditions to try to get out a little today with the main goal being to track down a warbler for March.  I have tried in vain to track down any warblers for the later part of February (after finding two species to start February).  I hit a couple spots this morning that have featured Yellow rumped Warblers and I eventually had a flyover at one spot but no luck in tracking it down for a photo.  The flyover this morning marked 71 consecutive months of having at least one warbler species in Hampshire County.  I will try to get a photo of one this month at some point.