June ends on a hot note

Prairie Warbler, Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, Jun 28, 2026

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Reed Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, Jun 28, 2026

Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 27, 2026

June came to an end today and with it the beginning of a multi day heat wave that will feature record setting temps in the upper 90's with high humidity that will continue into the weekend.  It was a productive month for warblers with highlights including a Nashville Warbler a few days ago at Quabbin Park and confirmed breeding of Cerulean Warbler at Quabbin Park for another year.  I ended the month with 24 species of warblers (with all but one of those being in Hampshire County...I did make a trip down to Hampden County late in the month for Hooded Warblers).  July will bring a trip out west (assuming Wilson stays healthy) with a few days in Minnesota and Wisconsin before continuing on to Alaska and then to Oregon before coming home.  I hope to get Kirtland's Warbler and Golden winged Warbler in Wisconsin (and perhaps Connecticut Warbler if I get the other two targets right away).  Alaska will not feature any new warblers for the year but hopefully some photos opportunities of a few species and Oregon should offer better chances for photos of a couple species including MacGillivray's Warbler and Hermit Warbler.  

Cerulean Warblers confirmed breeding again at Quabbin Park

Cerulean Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 29, 2026

Cerulean Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 29, 2026

Cerulean Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 29, 2026

Cerulean Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 29, 2026

Cerulean Warbler carrying food, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 29, 2026

Cerulean Warbler carrying food, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 29, 2026

After several weeks of following the multiple Cerulean Warblers at Quabbin Park  I was finally able to confirm breeding again for this year.  The first Cerulean Warbler arrived on May 8th and by the next day I had three singing males and one was banded on May 12th (I believe this was original male as the area it started singing in is the same area it has stayed in throughout).  Multiple males continued through May and on June 11th I maxed out the number of singing males at four (with the only banded individual being the one banded this year).  I have been trying in vain to confirm breeding until today.  Following some birding earlier in the morning in Ware and Hardwick I made my way over to Quabbin Park around 8AM.  With somewhat limited time as I had to get some stuff done at home and get Wilson a walk before it got too hot I concentrated on trying to track down some of the Cerulean Warblers.  I have had just one very sporadically singing male during my previous two visits to the area in the past week and a few days ago I was able to get eyes on the banded male.  I walked the area and did not hear any Cerulean Warbler song at all and with calm conditions I'm sure I would have heard even a distantly singing individual.  As I was scanning the area where the banded male has consistently been I caught sight of a female Cerulean Warbler...my first in the park for the year.  I watched her forage for a bit and eventually she had a mouthful of food and disappeared to near the top of a large maple.  She repeated this behavior for at least the next thirty minutes I was watching her. I briefly caught sight of the banded male but I never saw him carrying food or approaching the probable nest location.  Despite trying many different angles to try to find the nest I had no luck but I'm quite certain there is a nest with nestlings in the tree in question.  I'll try again to get views of the nest tomorrow perhaps.  Last year I also confirmed breeding of the species with the sighting of a fledgling in early July and I highly suspect breeding has occurred in a few years previous to last years confirmation.

Northern Yellow Warbler, Hardwick, MA, Jun 29, 2026

Northern Yellow Warbler, Hardwick, MA, Jun 29, 2026

American Redstart, Hardwick, MA, Jun 29, 2026

American Redstart carrying food, Hardwick, MA, Jun 29, 2026

My stops prior to going to Quabbin Park found lots of evidence of breeding warblers with fledglings around and multiple adults of numerous species carrying food to feed nestlings or fledglings. 

Hooded Warblers in Hampden County

Hooded Warbler carrying food, Grace Robinson State Wildlife Sanctuary, Westfield, MA, Jun 25, 2026

Ovenbird fledgling, Grace Robinson State Wildlife Sanctuary, Westfield, MA, Jun 25, 2026

American Redstart, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, Jun 25, 2026

Louisiana Waterthrush, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, Jun 25, 2026

Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, Jun 25, 2026

Ovenbird, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, Jun 25, 2026

Black and White Warbler fledgling, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, Jun 25, 2026

Although I had already had Hooded Warbler for the year with one that showed up in Hadley in early May I never got any photos of that bird as it stayed hidden from view.  The location in Hampden County I visited this morning has featured breeding Hooded Warblers for multiple years and my goal was to get some photos of the birds.  I had one singing a dawn song distantly fairly early in my walk and eventually had at least two males singing plus a female.  One of the males was seen carrying food multiple times to a hidden nest or fledglings.  I had a number of other warblers in the area including several fledglings.  After over an hour of enjoying the Hooded Warblers I headed over to South Hadley to hike into the southern part of Skinner SP with the dual goals of finding Acadian Flycatchers and turning up more warblers for the day.  Happily I had success with both goals and once again had multiple fledgling warblers.  

Cerulean Warbler nest at Skinner SP with cooperative breeding occurring

Cerulean Warbler female with nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Cerulean Warbler nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Cerulean Warbler male with leg bands and female with nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Cerulean Warbler male with leg bands and female with nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Cerulean Warbler adult male without bands with nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Cerulean Warbler nestlings, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

American Redstart carrying food, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 17, 2026

I got a text from Jack yesterday letting me know he found a Cerulean Warbler nest at Skinner State Park and the nestlings looked about ready to fledge.  I was in the middle of a project at home yesterday so could not break free to make the trip over to see them.  I hoped they would still be around this morning when I had some free time to make my way over to the park.  Armed with the rough location of the nest I arrived at Skinner SP before sunrise and made the hike up the mountain.  On the hike up I ran across a number of warblers with a few carrying food to unseen nestlings or fledglings.  Once I arrived near the site of the nest I had a male carrying food and then disappearing into the trees toward the yet unseen nest.  The male I saw appeared to have bands (white bands meaning it was the individual banded this year).  As I continued my search for the nest Jack arrived and with his directions I was able to finally find the nest.  Initially the nestlings stayed hunkered down low in the nest and it was tough to even see if there was anything in the nest but as the morning wore on the nestlings became more active and the adults increased their trips to the nest with food.  We got to see the adult female arrive on multiple occasions and spend a little time around the nest before disappearing to get more food for the nestlings.  We had the banded male show up briefly on multiple occasions and even had an unbanded adult male show up to assist with feeding the nestlings.  Jack mentioned he observed this behavior yesterday too and from a bit of research this type of cooperative breeding is extremely rare (and perhaps unrecorded) with the species.  Having a banded male around was the only thing that made this observation possible and the two males never were at the nest at the same time.  Another great reason to color band individuals so you can see this behavior.  After about an hour and a half of observing the nest and talking with Jack I headed back down and once again had a number of warblers.  Jack stayed and after a few more hours all three nestlings fledged from the nest and started their lives outside the nest and out in the big world.  Eventually they will make the long migration down to South America for the winter before making a return trip north to breed.

Another species captured on camera at water feature with a Northern Yellow Warbler

Northern Yellow Warbler and House Wren, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 12, 2026

 

Northern Yellow Warbler and House Wren, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 12, 2026

 

Northern Yellow Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 12, 2026

A check of the camera at the water feature today found that a new species was captured a couple days ago with the arrival of a Northern Yellow Warbler, making seven species captured this year (although at least one species, a Wilson's Warbler, visited while I was watching but the camera never caught it).

Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 14, 2026

Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 14, 2026

Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jun 14, 2026

Brewster's Warbler carrying food, Rail Trail, Amherst, MA, Jun 14, 2026

I had some time free this morning so took a walk at the rail trail in Amherst to start the day and then headed over to Skinner SP and hiked up to the top and back down.  Bird song continues to slowly decrease among a number of warblers but there was still song.  Highlights for the morning included the continued Brewster's Warbler (once again seen carrying food) in Amherst, at least half a dozen Worm eating Warblers and just a single Cerulean Warbler singing at Skinner SP.

Four male Cerulean Warblers today at Quabbin Park

Cerulean Warbler (first unbanded individual), Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 11, 2026

Cerulean Warbler (first unbanded individual), Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 11, 2026

Cerulean Warbler (second unbanded individual), Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 11, 2026

 

Cerulean Warbler (third unbanded individual), Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 11, 2026

 After getting a little birding done in Ware I headed into Quabbin Park to follow up on the Cerulean Warblers there.  I'm determined to find conclusive evidence of breeding once again this year and I hoped today would finally reward me with evidence (it did not).  I spent a couple hours looking and listening for Cerulean Warbler and was rewarded with four singing males...the most so far this year.  With much effort I was able to get at least brief looks at each of them and three were unbanded with the banded individual being the one banded in mid May.  Although I found no definitive evidence of breeding I'm certain I will eventually find it and I suspect the banded bird might have found a mate as he has been less vocal recently and is still staying in the same territory since he arrived in early May.  Having a fourth male show up this late in the breeding season raises several questions...where was he before?  What attracted him to here?  Are the presence of other singing males attracting wandering individuals?  This species is at the limit of its range here and behavior is somewhat atypical compared to behavior in its core breeding range.  Would be great to be able to track these individuals over the course of the year (or years) and see where they come from and how they travel around during the breeding season.  More questions than answers sometimes.

Black and White Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 11, 2026

American Redstart, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 11, 2026

Chestnut sided Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 11, 2026

As I looked for the Cerulean Warblers I had a bunch of other breeding warbler species around and I got photos of a few of them...Quabbin Park always produces.

Warblers along the west side of Quabbin the last three days (well mostly from there)

Chestnut sided Warbler, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, Jun 8, 2026

Moose, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, Jun 8, 2026

Black throated Blue Warbler, Bright Water Bog, Shutesbury, MA, Jun 9, 2026

Magnolia Warbler, Quabbin Gate 12, Pelham, MA, Jun 9, 2026

Chestnut sided Warbler carrying food, Quabbin Gate 12, Pelham, MA, Jun 9, 2026

 

Brewster's Warbler, Rail Trail, Amherst, MA, Jun 10, 2026

I have spent the last three morning largely exploring areas along the west side of Quabbin and the Prescott Peninsula as well as some nearby areas.  These days have been mainly looking for breeding species (both common and unusual) and I have found a decent selection as breeding season is in full swing now.  I also followed up on reports of a few slightly unusual warblers without finding any although I did find the continued Brewster's Warbler when I swung through Amherst to run some errands.