Hooded Warbler in Hampden County

Hooded Warbler, Westfield, MA, May 28, 2022

Hooded Warbler, Westfield, MA, May 28, 2022

Hooded Warbler, Westfield, MA, May 28, 2022

Hooded Warbler, Westfield, MA, May 28, 2022

Despite the conditions looking good for late season migration the last two nights and the Birdcast forecast saying the same, the birds apparently had other ideas and neither night resulted in much movement.  I have been spending quite a bit of time lately trying to track down a Hooded Warbler in Hampshire County for the year but have come up empty so far (I have not had the species at all anywhere for the year before today).  The species is at the northern limit of its range in the area but most years at least one shows up (and usually a few).  After a rather wet and mosquito filled walk along Mitch's Way I decided to take advantage of some extra time in the morning I decided to leave the county and make the drive down to Westfield to check on the small breeding population of Hooded Warblers that have been present for several years.  I got there a bit before seven and started walking up the hill.  After a bit of listening and looking I heard a Hooded Warbler singing distantly.  Eventually the bird came in a bit closer and I was able to get some good looks, a few recordings and some identifiable photos (despite the overcast and gloomy conditions).  I walked a bit more to see if I could find more but didn't have any luck and I wanted to get back home before the showers and thunderstorms rolled in.  Although I didn't find any more Hooded Warblers I did have a Black throated Blue Warbler trying its best to make me think it was a Cerulean Warbler.  This is a fairly common problem with Black throated Blue Warblers in the area of central New England and one that is not warned about in field guides.  David Sibley wrote a great article explaining it much better than I can and the article can be found at the following link.  I still have hopes a Hooded Warbler will show up in the county sometime in the near future.

Two Lawrence's Warblers this morning!

 

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, May 27, 2022

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, May 27, 2022

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, May 27, 2022

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, May 27, 2022

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, May 27, 2022

After another fruitless search this morning for a Hooded Warbler in Hampshire County for the year I headed home to take Wilson for a walk.  While we were out on our walk I heard a Blue winged Warbler song and tried to track it down but had no luck.  As the area I heard it in produced a Lawrence's Warbler back in 2012 I decided to head back to the same area after dropping Wilson off.  I try to track down every bird that sounds anything like a Blue winged Warbler as you never know what will be singing and I have found many interesting birds over the years.  I returned with the camera and more time to look and I quickly found the bird...a Lawrence's Warbler!  I managed to get some photos to compare it to the continued Lawrence's Warbler I have had for the last few weeks elsewhere in town.  Very cool to find one in almost the exact same spot I had one ten years ago.   

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, May 7, 2022

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, May 7, 2022

After seeing the first Lawrence's Warbler I headed over to the area where another has been present since at least May 7th and I started searching for it.  It has grown much quieter and harder to find as it has apparently settled down to nest with an apparent Blue winged x Golden winged Warbler hybrid (mainly Blue winged Warbler in appearance except for yellow wing bars).  After a lot of searching and waiting I got a brief glimpse of it but could not get photos of it today.  I have included some photos from previous visits and you can see some subtle difference in the plumage compared to the other individual. I will keep an eye on both Lawrence's Warblers over the next few weeks to see if they stick around and if I'm able to confirm nesting.  This is the first year I have ever had two individual Lawrence's Warbler in the county and to have both on the same day in the same town is really impressive as this hybrid is quite unusual.

I have had the following sightings of Lawrence's Warbler in Hampshire County during my years of birding here:

4/29/09  Covey WMA, Belchertown

5/14/12  Belchertown 

5/13/17  Mineral Hills Conservation Area, Northampton

5/5/20-7/1/20  Belchertown

5/3/21-6/721 Belchertown

5/7/22-?  Belchertown (individual #1)

5/27/22-?  Belchertown (individual #2)

I'm not quite sure why Belchertown is such a hot spot for Lawrence's Warbler but it is nice to have them close to home.  Perhaps there is an unknown Golden winged Warbler nesting nearby with a Blue winged Warbler and producing the various hybrids.  Golden winged Warblers have become so rare in the state they are now a review species and there are typically only a handful of records a year.  The last one in the county was one I found back in 2017 at the very end of May.

Blue winged Warbler, Lawrence's Swamp, Amherst, MA, May 27, 2022

I also ran across a very interesting sounding Blue winged Warbler this morning in Amherst.  The bird was singing a very Golden winged Warbler like song and I had hopes that once I tracked down the bird I would find something beyond a typical Blue winged Warbler but that was not to be the case.  The eBird list has a handful of recordings. 

Ten Mourning Warblers this morning!

Mourning Warbler, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, May 20, 2022

Mourning Warbler, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, May 20, 2022

Tennessee Warbler, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, May 20, 2022

What a day for Mourning Warblers!  I went back and forth on where to start my morning as I was putting the day in play for a big warbler day in Hampshire County and I finally settled on Mitch's Way which can be quite productive this time of year and would put me in a centralized location to hit a few other spots and be nearby if anyone found a rare warbler.  I started my walk in a little before five and had lots of bird song and then I heard my first Mourning Warbler quickly followed by two more as I walked steadily along the road.  I then walked back along the same route and had the same three and then added others in different locations and eventually ended up with at least seven individuals at just this location!  I then turned up three more individuals at two other locations bringing my morning total to an astounding ten...a really amazing morning for the species. Before this morning my previous best single best count for the species in the county at a single location was three at Quabbin Park on May 23, 2017 and I have only managed to find three in a single day in the county on two other occasions both in 2021 (May 17 and 24).  I sent all the recordings off to a researcher to determine the particular vocal type of each one I recorded and heard back that I managed to record all three regiolects possible here (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Eastern).  I went back several years to look at my totals for spring for the species in the county and came up with the following:

2016 -4

2017 -7

2018 -7

2019 -13

2020 -7

2021 -11

2022 -14 as of 5/20

My sightings on just this morning surpass my totals for an entire spring in several previous years.

In addition to the Mourning Warblers I found 15 other warbler species at the location including three Tennessee Warblers, a Bay breasted Warbler and multiple Blackpoll Warblers.  

Cerulean Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, May 20, 2022

Blackburnian Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, May 20, 2022

Bay breasted Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, May 20, 2022

Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, May 20, 2022

I was off to a very good start and then went to nearby Skinner SP to add the breeding Cerulean Warblers and Worm eating Warbler plus other migrants that I hoped would be there.  I quickly got Worm eating Warblers including an individual that has been around for a few years that gives an odd two parted song.  The Cerulean Warblers were quite vocal and there were at least four separate males singing.  I added more Tennessee Warblers, a Cape May Warbler, three Bay breasted Warblers as well as other warblers one would expect to find in the woods.

Brewster's Warbler, Sweet Alice Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, May 20, 2022

My next stop was to a part of the Mount Holyoke Range SP where I got more warblers including two more Mourning Warblers.  I made several more stops for the morning in Hadley and Quabbin Park and turned up the continued Brewster's Warbler hybrid.

Canada Warbler, Belchertown Land Trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, May 20, 2022

Black and White Warbler, Belchertown Land Trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, May 20, 2022

Common Yellowthroat, Piper Farm Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, May 20, 2022

Blackpoll Warbler, Piper Farm Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, May 20, 2022

Chestnut sided Warbler, Sweet Alice Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, May 20, 2022

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, May 20, 2022

Lawrence's Warbler, Belchertown, MA, May 20, 2022

After walking Wilson I went back again in Belchertown and added a second hybrid for the day with the continued Lawrence's Warbler which appears to be paired with a Blue winged Warbler (which might also be a hybrid as I got a brief glimpse of it and it may have had yellow wing bars but the view was brief).  The sun was out in force at this point which made photos a bit more obtainable.

Overall for the day I found a total of 27 species of warbler as well as a couple hybrids...not my best day but as good a total as one can get in the county without an unusual warbler around.

Decent couple days of warblers despite cool, rainy weather today

American Redstart, Quabbin Park, MA, May 19, 2022

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 19, 2022

Bay breasted Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 19, 2022

Today was a rainy cool day but still produced a decent variety of warblers even when I didn't spend a lot of time looking for them.  My main goal today was to turn up storm downed birds and I had some success with the highlights being a Short billed Dowitcher and a few Bonaparte's Gulls (more on that at the following post).  With these rainy and cool conditions in May there are still warblers to be found and occasionally good numbers and/or diversity will show up.  With this in mind I made a fairly productive short stop in Quabbin Park with 19 species in a relatively small area feeding actively in the oaks.  The rain continued to pick up and at that point I ditched looking for warblers for a bit and returned to the dam to look for storm downed species.  

Mourning Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 19, 2022

Magnolia Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 19, 2022

Bay breasted Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 19, 2022

I arrived home late in the morning and when I stepped outside I immediately heard warblers. The house produced quite an assortment of warblers with 14 species including a Mourning Warbler (of the Nova Scotia vocal group) and at least four Bay breasted Warblers.  I ended the day with 23 species of warbler without a concerted effort.  I'm still hopeful I will get a day where I can reach the upper 20's for warbler species but that will depend on the arrival of a rarity or two and the continued presence of those warblers that are just passing through on their way further north.

Blackburnian Warbler, Cadwell Memorial Forest, Pelham, MA, May 18, 2022

Black throated Green Warbler, Cadwell Memorial Forest, Pelham, MA, May 18, 2022

Northern Parula, Cadwell Memorial Forest, Pelham, MA, May 18, 2022

Black throated Blue Warbler, Reed Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, May 18, 2022

Black and White Warbler, Reed Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, May 18, 2022

Chestnut sided Warbler, Reed Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, May 18, 2022

Magnolia Warbler, Reed Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, May 18, 2022

Yesterday was also a good day for warblers despite the windy conditions as I spent the morning in the area of east Quabbin with the main goal being trying to turn up a Hooded Warbler and I'll just post a few of the better shots for the day without going into lots of detail.

Home, Belchertown, MA, May 16, 2022

American Redstart, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 16, 2022

The camera at the water feature captured a few new warblers for the season as well as a new species overall with the arrival of a Yellow Warbler a couple days ago.  The Yellow Warbler becomes the 17th species captured at the water feature (both the new one and the old one)

Big influx of warblers yesterday

Chestnut sided Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2022

Black and White Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2022

Canada Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2022

Blue winged Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2022

Magnolia Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2022

Bay breasted Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2022

Blackpoll Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2022

Brewster's Warbler, Sweet Alice Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, May 16, 2022

Cerulean Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, May 16, 2022

Yellow Warbler, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, May 16, 2022

Black and White Warbler, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, May 16, 2022

Common Yellowthroat, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, May 16, 2022

After a few disappointing mornings in a row when the migration conditions looked great but resulted in few birds it all changed yesterday morning with a large arrival of migrants.  The conditions for migration were great and with the winds calm and overcast the weather would hopefully cooperate to see loads of warblers.  I decided to start my morning at Quabbin Park which turned out to be a good choice.  I started racking up species very quickly even before the gates opened at the park.  Once the gates did open I got in and checked a few spots that have been productive in the past and they produced for sure.  I added new for me in the county this year Blackpoll and Tennessee Warblers early on and then several Bay breasted Warblers and a single Cape May Warbler.  By the end of my four hours in the park I had tallied 24 species of warbler so I decided to try my luck in making it a county big warbler day.  I would need to turn up some unusual species (like Orange crowned Warbler or Hooded Warbler), a late Palm Warbler, a somewhat early Mourning Warbler or something even rarer to set a record for myself in the county.  I made several more stops over the course of the morning with a big stop being Skinner SP to get Cerulean Warbler and Worm eating Warbler.  Unfortunately I was unable to find any species that are required to put one over the top on a big day for warblers here and I ended the day with 26 species plus a hybrid.  I will certainly try for another big warbler day over the next week if the conditions line up right.