I ended the last day of the second week of October exploring in Amherst on a cool, damp and occasionally rainy morning looking for warblers. I managed to track down four species in the gloom in Amherst with the vast majority being Yellow rumped Warblers. Although far from record breaking I was happy to see that many species given the conditions. I have not had much of a chance to bird the last few days due to work and other commitments so it was nice to be out today, even if it was less than ideal warbler weather. The next few days continue to look cool and windy but then there should be a warm up to end the week and continue for at least a few days after that.
An ongoing story of my search to see all the new world warbler species as well as general sightings of warblers locally
Monday, October 14, 2024
Warblers to end the second week of the month
Monday, October 7, 2024
More late warblers for the first week of October
After finding 14 species of warblers to start October I continued to search and find a number of late species for the month when I was not working.
After getting out of work on the morning of the 3rd I tried Arcadia but with little decent habitat it was rather slow. I then headed to a spot in Amherst that was productive on the first and I had some good luck there again with a late Chestnut sided Warbler among a half dozen species. After about an hour and half I headed to Belchertown where I had two more late species with a Northern Waterthrush and an Ovenbird. Overall for the morning I had eleven species.
I had to work on Friday but got out to bird again on Saturday morning and I started off at UMASS where I had five species of warbler. I then moved on to a spot in Amherst where I once again had five species of warblers. I ended the morning with seven species of warblers and I'm sure I could have got more if I was not so exhausted from work and could visit a few other areas.
The night of Saturday into Sunday morning was a big night of migration (the largest flight in overall numbers all fall according to birdcast). Although the diversity was down the numbers of Yellow rumped Warblers was impressive with dozens in most spots. I also turned up a late Ovenbird and ended the morning with just half a dozen species of warblers. I started off the morning in Amherst and then worked my way back toward home. Although it was a cold start in the low 40's it eventually warmed up and day featured wall to wall sunshine.
The week ended on a rainy note to start the day. I was out before sunrise to find breezy conditions and occasional showers that became a steady rain for a few hours. My early morning stops were not too productive at all. Once the rain stopped I headed out again and had a bit more luck with warblers with the primary species being Yellow rumped Warblers. I ended the day with just four species of warblers with no new ones for the month. So far I have found 17 species of warblers for the month and the chances of turning up more species rapidly decreases as the month goes on.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
14 warbler species to start off the month of October