After finding a rare for spring Orange crowned Warbler yesterday at UMASS I heard from Mary that she had a different individual elsewhere on the campus and with her directions I headed there at first light to try to track it down. Although I was saddened to see Orchard Hill being 'developed' yet again and therefore cutting down some great habitat I did manage to catch up with the bird Mary found yesterday. It had moved a bit from the previous day but thankfully was still in the area, occasionally singing. I spent quite a bit of time with the bird trying to get some photos and I had some success...much better than I had with my uncooperative individual the day before. I had a dozen species of warblers on Orchard Hill before I headed to another part of campus where I added a couple more species for the day. I had no luck relocating the Orange crowned Warbler I had yesterday
I then headed to the rail trail in Amherst where I sorted through a bunch of Blue winged Warblers and found the continued Blue winged x Golden winged hybrid still hanging in the same area. I also got some killer looks at a female Black and White Warbler collecting nest material.
I intended to stop at Silvio Conte NWR in Hadley but the parking lot was full and I prefer not to be crowded by people so I instead headed east and went to Quabbin Park where I had 15 species of warbler with the highlight being a Cerulean Warbler. I really hope I can confirm breeding of the species back in the park again this year. I had Cerulean Warblers in the area last year and I suspected breeding but could never confirm. I will be keeping tabs on them again this year.
I saw a report of a Hooded Warbler at Quabbin Park from earlier in the day and after some prodding from Mary I decided to head over to see if I could relocate it. Although I had no luck finding it the area it was reported in featured some great breeding habitat and was not too far away from where I had a Hooded Warbler back in 2019.
Although a bit early in the month to try for a big warbler day I had a respectable 23 species of warblers (plus the hybrid) for the day. My first time reaching 20+ species on a day since last spring.
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