October is off to a great start with a good showing of late season migrant warblers plus a few late species still around. The most exciting sightings by far were a possible hybrid Yellow rumped Warbler and an oddly plumaged Black throated Blue Warbler. First a bit about the possible hybrid. I saw the bird in a mixed flock at a spot in Belchertown and immediately noticed the yellowish throat of the bird and snapped off a few pictures before it disappeared, not to be seen again. The question now becomes if it is a hybrid of an Audubon's x Myrtle subspecies of Yellow rumped Warbler. I have reached out to a few experts on it and the consensus is that it may indeed be a hybrid but could also be an aberrant plumaged Myrtle subspecies. Whatever it actually is tough to say for sure and certainly added some excitement to the morning. In the same area I had a Black throated Blue Warbler with some unusual plumage with a whitish throat and more white on the flank than typical. Overall for the first couple days of the month I have found 16 species of warblers so far with the most notable being numbers of Ovenbirds, an Orange crowned Warbler, Cape May Warbler and multiple Northern Parula and Black throated Blue Warblers. I have mainly stayed in the Belchertown and Pelham area with a brief detour to Amherst. The last two mornings have been quite chilly but thankfully the ample sunshine warms things up a bit by the end of the day although not as warm as recently with highs in the 60's. although the breeze yesterday made viewing a bit tough. We are headed toward another warm up through the weekend.
