With the forecast for cool, breezy conditions with every increasing chances for rain forecast for the day, I knew I had to get out early if I wanted to have any time to walk a bit to loosen up my back and hopefully get some warblers along the way. I decided to try for a previously reported Sedge Wren in Hadley to start the morning before going back to concentrating on warblers. I quickly had the wren and then took a short walk and found eight species of warblers. I then headed to Amherst to take a walk at UMASS before running some errands and then going home. The UMASS stopped proved to be quite productive with an Orange crowned Warbler in a mixed flock near some dense thickets. The bird proved to be very tough to track down and I only heard it sing twice. No chance at all for any photos as it worked its way through the thickets. I managed to get some photos of the other warblers in the flock including my first Wilson's Warbler of the year. Orange crowned Warbler is a tough to find warbler species in the area, especially in spring. This is my 9th spring record ever for the species in the county, with many years having none in the spring (and it was my third spring UMASS record with previous ones on May 4, 2021 and May 6, 2012...they apparently like the campus at the middle/end of the first week of May). Oddly enough Mary located another Orange crowned Warbler at a different location at UMASS at the same time I had mine on the opposite side of the campus. Although I failed to get photos of the Orange crowned Warbler I did get to see and photograph my first Wilson's Warbler of the year. The walk I took there produced 16 species of warbler despite the poor weather conditions.
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