Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 17, 2022
Nashville Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 17, 2022
Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 17, 2022
Palm Warbler 'western', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 17, 2022
Tennessee Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 17, 2022
Northern Waterthrush, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 17, 2022
After several days of subpar migration conditions (more on that at the very end of this post) the weather changed and we had multiple nights of good to great migration conditions and I made it out at least a bit every morning for the last four days. My main focus was warblers with a concentration on trying to find a Connecticut Warbler. I decided to spend each morning at Arcadia, as that location can certainly feature a wide selection of warblers in mid September plus it is interesting to hit the same area a few days in a row to see how the species changes from day to day. Today I made it to Arcadia a little before dawn again and it was cold once again with temps in the upper 40's. Thankfully the sun came out and warmed stuff up and the winds stayed fairly light. The big highlight was a very brief look at a brown hooded juvenile Connecticut Warbler that popped up briefly in an area I have had the species in previous years. Despite a lot of looking and waiting I never got another look at the bird again so no luck with any photos. Besides the Connecticut Warbler I had some other good stuff including a couple Northern Waterthrushes and at least three Tennessee Warblers among a total of ten species of warbler. It was another slower day then I expected but still nice (never a bad day when you get a Connecticut Warbler).
Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 16, 2022
Magnolia Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 16, 2022
Friday I had just a couple hours free before I had to head to work for a class but I made the most of my time I did have available. When I arrived at Arcadia there was a little fog with a temperature a very cool 41 degrees. The fog eventually burned off enough to let the sun start warming up the area but unfortunately the birds just did not respond while I was there. In almost two and a half hours of time I only turned up 7 species of warbler with a few of them represented by just a single individual (I only had 22 individual warblers overall when just the day before I had this total with just a single species of warbler). It was a disappointing morning for warblers despite the great migration conditions overnight...perhaps a lot of birds left without many replacements? After I got out of class I headed home to get Wilson and we went for a walk and we turned up a half dozen species of warblers including several new ones for the day.
Northern Parula, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2022
Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2022
Yellow Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2022
Prairie Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2022
Northern Waterthrush, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2022
Black and White Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 15, 2022
Chestnut sided Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 15, 2022
Tennessee Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 15, 2022
Black throated Blue Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 15, 2022
The forecast for Thursday called for windy conditions out of the northwest but I hoped to turn up some warblers before the wind kicked up too badly. The radar overnight was busy and there was certainly a lot of birds moving. I arrived before dawn at Arcadia and waited for the sun to start warming stuff up. The breeze was already starting a bit early but I still was able to turn up some good stuff with lots of Common Yellowthroats, a least a half dozen Yellow Warblers and my first migrant Yellow rumped Warblers.
With activity quieting down a lot at Arcadia I headed toward home but decided to stop off at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River to see if that location would offer up anything noteworthy. Although no luck with Connecticut Warbler there I did have a couple pockets of migrants with ten species of warbler including a few species I did not have at Arcadia with the highlight being at least three Tennessee Warblers.
Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 14, 2022
Black throated Green Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 14, 2022
Palm Warbler 'western', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 14, 2022
Yellow Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 14, 2022
Blackpoll Warbler, Northampton, MA, Sep 14, 2022
Nashville Warbler, Northampton, MA, Sep 14, 2022
Palm Warbler 'yellow', Northampton, MA, Sep 14, 2022
Magnolia Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 14, 2022
On the first morning following some decent overnight migration conditions I spent my first morning at Arcadia and had some good diversity with 13 species with a few highlights including my first Palm Warblers of the fall, including one 'yellow' among the several 'western' Palm Warblers. I also had a Mourning Warbler and at least five Yellow Warblers but no luck with anything more unusual (namely a Connecticut Warbler).
A brief overview of warblers for the last four days are shown below:
Arcadia totals
Wednesday: 13 species
Thursday: 10 species
Friday: 7 species
Saturday: 10 species
Overall warbler totals for entire day
Wednesday: 13 species
Thursday: 16 species
Friday: 12 species
Saturday: 13 species
Tennessee Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 12, 2022
Northern Parula, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 12, 2022
American Redstart, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 12, 2022
Chestnut sided Warbler, Hadley, MA, Sep 11, 2022
Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 11, 2022
Nashville Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 11, 2022
Yellow Warbler, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2022
Common Yellowthroat, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 13, 2022
Although the conditions from the past weekend into the early part of this week were less than ideal with mainly overcast conditions with bouts of rain and drizzle and winds mainly out of the south, there were still warblers to be found. The East Meadows held a few warblers on Saturday with a weedy patch holding a couple Yellow Warblers (this same spot usually hosts the species late into their migration). I had a few hours on Sunday and headed to Arcadia. The early morning fog just did not want to lift and it took a lot of looking to find some warblers. Monday started with drizzle but it mainly stopped by the time I made it over to Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River. I had a nice mixed flock that was one of the better ones as far as diversity goes the entire fall until that point with nine species of warbler including large numbers of American Redstarts and the largest number of Tennessee Warblers I have had at a single location so far. Tuesday was a bit of a rain out with rain early and then a break before more rain moved. Warblers were few and far between for the day. I tried in vain to turn up an early Connecticut Warbler during these days but had no luck but not too surprising given the migration conditions.
