Pine Warbler at the end of the month and an update on a few overwintering warblers in the area

Pine Warbler, Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, Mar 31, 2021

Pine Warbler, Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, Mar 31, 2021

Pine Warblers finally showed up around here starting a few days ago but I have been out of the area on a short trip down to Florida (more on that trip in a later post).  I spent quite a bit of time on Monday and Tuesday last week before I left looking for them without success despite what appeared to be great early season migration conditions.  I arrived home in the mid afternoon today and made a couple quick stops and turned up a singing male at Covey WMA just a few minutes away from the house.  I have seen a few reports of Palm Warblers in the area too as well as a possible Louisiana Waterthrush.  

A quick update on the status of the overwintering warblers in the immediate area.  The Tennessee Warbler in Athol amazingly made it through the entire winter (thanks to Jeff and Sherry feeding it a steady diet of crickets, split up sunflower hearts and bananas).  It is truly incredible for this species to make it through a winter in the interior of New England.  The Common Yellowthroat at a greenhouse in Deerfield left the greenhouse late in February and has not been seen since.  The Yellow throated Warbler in Lancaster was last reported in mid February.

Yellow rumped Warbler continues into March

I finally had some free time and the weather was somewhat cooperative for me to try to catch up with the over wintering Yellow rumped Warbler that has been seen on and off in Hadley.  Oddly this has been the only somewhat regular overwintering warbler in Hampshire County this year unlike the last couple years which has featured multiple birds at multiple locations.  It has mainly been in the area near a small wastewater treatment plant but has not been nearly as regular as the overwintering Eastern Phoebe that has been at the same location.  I walked for quite a bit before I had the warbler flyover calling and heading into an area that I could not get close to and I was never able to see it beyond the flyover so no luck with getting a photo this morning.  I will certainly try again at some point over the next several days but without a lot of extra time due to work I probably won't get a long opportunity until the weekend or sometime next week.