A few warblers at Arcadia during the middle of the week

Tennessee Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 22, 2020

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 22, 2020

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 22, 2020

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 22, 2020

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 22, 2020

The unseasonably warm weather for most of the past week continued into Thursday and I took the opportunity to try to catch up with some lingering warblers at Arcadia and found a few including a Tennessee Warbler and two Common Yellowthroats.  In addition I had 28 Palm Warblers with all but one being of the yellow subspecies as well as just over fifty Yellow rumped Warblers. The Tennessee Warbler set a new late date for me with the species beating my old record on October 21 in 2012.  More on late and early dates at the following link.  

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 20, 2020

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 20, 2020

A morning stop at Arcadia on Tuesday morning produced some lingering warblers with a very late Wilson Warbler (my latest record ever in the county) and a slightly late Common Yellowthroat. Unfortunately the Wilson’s Warbler popped up only briefly and was quickly gone and could not be relocated so no photo but the Common Yellowthroat was a bit more cooperative. In addition I had a decent count eleven Palm Warblers (all of the yellow subspecies) plus at least 42 Yellow rumped Warblers with the largest group feeding in the marsh.

Mid October day with eleven species of warbler including two Orange crowned Warblers and multiple late species

Northern Parula, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Orange crowned Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Tennessee Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Tennessee Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Orange crowned Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Magnolia Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Tennessee Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2020

Today was a fantastic mid October day for warblers with many highlights among a total of eleven species of warbler...probably the last day I will have a double digit count in Hampshire County for this year.  After a couple days of rain and cool temperatures today was sunny with light breezes and although it started cool (upper 30's) it quickly warmed once the sun came up eventually reaching a high around 70.  I spent the majority of my time at Arcadia where I found a total of nine warbler species including at least half a dozen Tennessee Warblers (a high count for this late), two Orange crowned Warblers, 14 Common Yellowthroats in a variety of plumages from very dull to bright adult males, two Northern Parula (late), a Magnolia Warbler (late), both subspecies of Palm Warbler with the majority of the 50+ individuals being 'yellow' Palm Warblers, a couple Pine Warblers, oddly just eight Yellow rumped Warblers and a late female Wilson's Warbler.  After my time at Arcadia I picked up Wilson and we went for a walk in Belchertown where I turned up a very late Northern Waterthrush in a small marshy area as well as a Blackpoll Warbler in among a group of Yellow rumped Warblers.  

A few of these records are new late date records for me in the Hampshire County.  The Northern Waterthrush is a new late date beating my previous late date of October 6 set in 2018.  Northern Parula ties my previous late date (from 2017) and Wilson's Warbler sets a new late date surpassing my previous late date of October 11 set in 2007.  My last update on early and late dates for me in Hampshire County can be found at the following link.

Blackpoll Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 11, 2020

The new water feature produced yet another warbler species a few days ago when a Blackpoll Warbler showed up.  This makes five species so far and I only got it up and running after the peak of fall warbler migration had already moved through.  Really looking forward to what spring migration brings in.

Warblers on a warm day and more captures at the water feature

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 10, 2020

 Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 10, 2020

I made it down to Arcadia after work today in the hopes of catching up with some warblers on what will probably be the warmest day we will have for awhile around here. The morning was in the 50’s and 60’s and with the strong south winds the temperatures eventually reached into the high 70’s. Unfortunately the strong winds that kicked up early and continued all day made finding warblers a bit difficult. Nonetheless I still found a couple late species with a single American Redstart and a Magnolia Warbler in a mixed flock along with a Tennessee Warbler and Orange crowned Warbler. The most numerous warbler species for the morning were Palm Warblers (30+) with all but one being of the ‘yellow’ subspecies. Overall for the morning I found a total of seven species of warbler at Arcadia and added one more at home later. 

Tennessee Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 9, 2020

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 9, 2020

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 10, 2020

The new water bubbler at the house continues to produce new warbler species with the camera capturing both Tennessee Warbler and Yellow rumped Warbler in the last couple days (bringing the total number of warblers at the new water feature to five so far)

Connecticut Warbler today and other warblers in the last several days

Connecticut Warbler, Aqua Vitae Rd, Hadley, MA, Oct 6, 2020

Connecticut Warbler, Aqua Vitae Rd, Hadley, MA, Oct 6, 2020

With the first week of October almost over I figured I would take a look at what warblers I have managed to turn up.  During the first week of the month I managed to find a total of 17 species of warblers.  I have been out most mornings including this morning when I found a Connecticut Warbler (only my third of the season and the first one I have been able to get any photos of).  I found it the way I typically find the species by listening for its distinctive chip.  Although getting quite late I have had Connecticut Warbler in early October a few times (seven total records with my latest ever date being October 7 in 2016 and 2017).  

Tennessee Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2020

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2020

Palm Warbler 'western', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2020

Prairie Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2020

Magnolia Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2020

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2020

American Redstart, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2020

Blackpoll Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2020

Other notables (mainly because they are lingering a bit past their expected departure time) included with the notable among these being a few late warblers: Yellow Warbler on the third, a Northern Waterthrush and a Prairie Warbler on the fourth and a Cape May Warbler and Black and White Warbler today.  The predominant warbler (as expected) for the first week was the Yellow rumped Warbler which arrived in large numbers. Palm Warblers of both subspecies were also around in decent numbers as were Common Yellowthroats (although that species is starting to drop in number). The remaining species were present in low numbers and most of these will be gone very soon.

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 1, 2020

The new water feature captured another new warbler species on the first when a Palm Warbler showed up.  This makes three species so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what next spring will bring.

Large influx of Yellow rumped Warblers

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 4, 2020

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 4, 2020

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 4, 2020

The last couple days have featured a noticeable influx of Yellow rumped Warblers (as expected for early October) but this morning was truly impressive.  Yesterday I spent a few hours at Arcadia and noticed quite a few had arrived with a total of 50+.  I then made a brief late morning stop in the East Meadows mainly looking for shorebirds and noticed many Yellow rumped Warblers both in the cornfields and in the air.  On yet another foggy and cool morning I headed back over to the East Meadows to both look for a Nelson's Sparrow that was seen a few days before and to try to get a better count of the warblers. Not long after I arrived I started seeing and hearing Yellow rumped Warblers and they continued until I left.  It appeared that many of the birds were roosting in the large tracts of corn and heading mainly off after dawn while others appeared to be feeding both in the cornfields and in any nearby weedy area.  I had a total of at least 178 individuals which is my fourth highest count for the species I have ever had in the county.  I covered just a very small portion of the meadows and I'm sure the total number of Yellow rumped Warblers was many times the total I had.  My top three previous days in the county for the species included a count of 188 on May 1st of this year, a count of 243 on October 14th last year and the biggest count of all of a whopping 944+ at Quabbin Park on October 19, 2005 following a unique set of circumstances that grounded large numbers of birds (the passage of a series of showers before dawn while numbers of birds were migrating).