Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025
Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025
Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025
Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025
Cerulean Warbler with leg bands, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025
With the forecast calling for another cool day with windy conditions I didn't hold out a lot of hope for getting much birding in. After getting some stuff done at the house I noticed it was not nearly as breezy as I expected it to be. With this in mind I decided I would try the couple hours I had free to bird in the Hadley area. After a short walk along the river the wind was still not bad so I made the hike up the mountain at
Skinner SP with the main goal being trying to track down a color banded Cerulean Warbler that was photographed at the location a few days ago. Although there was some wind on the walk up once I got through the gap of the mountain at Taylor's Notch the conditions were much better. Once I made it up near the top I spent some time trying to get looks at the few singing Cerulean Warblers among the nearly fully leafed out oaks. Eventually I found one and got on it and could see bands but to my surprise the colors of the bands were not the same as the one photographed earlier (that bird had two yellow bands and my bird had two blue bands). I got several photos of the bird before it disappeared further downslope. Eventually I got looks at another singing bird and found the previously reported individual with two yellow bands. Having two color banded Cerulean Warblers at the same spot certainly is exciting and makes me wonder who is conducting research on what is a declining species and one that breeds in only a few spots in the area (the unique color bands let researchers keep track of individuals without having to capture them again). I reported the bands to the federal band birding laboratory and hopefully the information submitted will be enough to track down the who, why, when on the banding (no chance to read the very small aluminum federal band). I will update if I hear anything back.
Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025
Worm eating Warbler, Skinner SP, South Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025
Blackpoll Warbler, Hadley, MA, May 20, 2025
Common Yellowthroat, Quabbin Park, MA, May 20, 2025
American Redstart, Quabbin Park, MA, May 20, 2025
With some great luck with warblers (although no Mourning Warbler unfortunately) I decided to try to see as many species as I could with the rather limited time I had. There was certainly an influx of Blackpoll Warblers and Canada Warblers as I had the species at multiple spots in numbers. The wind became a factor and cut down on the ability to hear any distant birds and movement was near impossible to detect. Nonetheless it was still a decent morning with 22 species...far from a record and not even my best day for the spring so far. Given the date, other commitments and the upcoming weather featuring more wind and rain the chances of getting a really big warbler day this spring is rapidly dwindling.
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