I started off the new year with finding a Yellow rumped Warbler on the 2nd and extending my streak for finding at least one species of warbler in Hampshire County to 69 consecutive months. Unfortunately I got Covid again but thankfully it was another fairly mild case and I was out birding again fairly quickly.
The next warbler of the year was a surprise Common Yellowthroat in Amherst in the same place I had one in early December (it appeared to be the same individual) and the same spot I had my latest ever record for the species back in 2019. An even bigger surprise was seeing another Common Yellowthroat to end the first week of the month. I added another Yellow rumped Warbler in Hadley on the 10th and then finally had a flyover Yellow rumped Warbler at Arcadia on the 13th. The Pine Warbler that was coming to a private feeder in December showed back up in mid January after a little snow but I was unable to go and try to see it.
The middle of the month found us heading to Florida to bask in some warm weather. We flew into Orlando where we spent a few days before heading to the coast in Fort Pierce. I managed to find a total of 14 species including a few that were late in the area.
Once back from Florida I was out again looking for warblers here and I concentrated on trying to relocate the Common Yellowthroats I had earlier in the month and I found both with one seen briefly on the 24th and the second on the 28th with both setting new late dates for the species for me in the county. By the end of the month I had two species of warbler in the county and a total of 14 species to start off the new year.
February started off with finding two species of warbler including a Yellow rumped Warbler and yet another new latest ever date for Common Yellowthroat. The weather turned to record setting with strong winds on the 3rd into the 5th and multiple subsequent searches for the yellowthroats came up empty as did searches for additional Yellow rumped Warblers through mid month.
I managed to hear a flyover Yellow rumped Warbler to start March but failed to get a photo. Nonetheless it extended my streak of warblers for every month in the county to 71 consecutive.
In the middle of the month we got away on an overdue trip down to warmer locations. The main vacation was a cruise out of Barbados (more on that below). Before and after the cruise we made brief visits to south Florida including a long overdue trip back to Everglades NP.
The big getaway in March was a roundtrip cruise out of Barbados sailing to the southern Caribbean with visits to Trinidad & Tobago, St. Vincent, Grenada, Dominica and St. Lucia. I had three main target warblers for the trip which would all be lifers including Masked Yellowthroat on Trinidad (thanks to a recent split it would be new for me), Whistling Warbler on St. Vincent and Plumbeous Warbler on Dominica. I found all three species with the help of some great local guides and got some great photos of two of the three (the Masked Yellowthroat just did not want to cooperate).
I ended the month of March with a Pine Warbler (giving me two species in the county for the month) and then started the month of April with a Yellow rumped Warbler followed up with Palm and Pine Warblers as I fought a bad cold. A near record early Louisiana Waterthrush showed up on the April 6th.
Warbler continued to increase into a very warm second week of April with my first day of four species here in a morning since the previous fall.
On the 20th I made a trip out of the county up to Sunderland in Franklin County to try to relocate a Yellow throated Warbler seen the day before and I was successful. It was one of two of this rare to the area species on the same day, with the other in Hampden County. It was my first record of the species for me anywhere in western mass (sadly still a miss for me in Hampshire County)
By the end of the third week of April I found a couple of early warblers including my earliest date ever for Yellow Warbler. Decent migration conditions had brought in these warblers to end the third week and start the fourth but then conditions changed dramatically and slowed down arrivals a lot.
The end of April brought mainly cool and occasionally rainy conditions which delayed the arrival of a number of species that usually start arriving during that time period. Nonetheless I was getting double digit days by the 28th.
May began as April ended with cool, rainy conditions and a continued slow flow of migrants. Conditions continued to be subpar for migration overall through the first week but I did have my first 20 species day to finish the first week of May. Although no big rarities I did come across the first of several Blue winged x Golden winged Warbler hybrids.
The second week of May brought in a good number of warblers including a Lawrence's Warbler on the 12th and a very uncooperative Hooded Warbler the following day. I also spent three consecutive days mid month trying to maximize warbler species on a given day with a max of 28 species (Orange crowned Warbler being the rarity during the time period). I also had my first Brewster's Warbler during these three days.
By the end of the third week of May the peak of warbler migration had arrived and I had a few more days where I had good max counts of warblers with another 28 species day plus a couple more 27 species days.
For the end of May the diversity of warblers dwindled a bit with mainly breeding species remaining. The highlights during that period included the continued Lawrence's Warbler and Cerulean Warbler at Quabbin Park as well as an unusually plumaged Black throated Blue Warbler that had extensive blue on chest. I ended the month with 30 species in Hampshire County (plus an additional warbler species with the Yellow throated Warbler in Sunderland).
June began with a decent showing of warblers including the continued Lawrence's Warbler. By the end of the first week of the month I was up to 22 species in the county (which is a really good number for June without any rarities around, just a handful of late migrants). I found a total of 21 Mourning Warblers during the spring migration and with sending recordings to a researcher in New Hampshire found I had recorded all three of the expected regiolects in the area.
In the middle of the month I took a ride down to Hampden County to check on the most reliable Hooded Warbler breeding colony in the valley. I also following a full breeding cycle of a pair of American Redstarts at Quabbin Park from mid May through fledging in the middle of June.
I relocated the Lawrence's Warbler at Quabbin Park later in the month of June after disappearing for a couple weeks. Quabbin Park also continued to produce Cerulean Warblers including one singing a parula like song. By the end of the month I had found 23 species and came across lots of evidence of successful breeding.
During the first week of July I concentrated a little of warblers and had 19 species within the first week with lots of young birds around plus adults carrying food to nests.
In the middle of the month we took a short trip down to the area where Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland come together and spent a few days down there. Despite it not being a birding trip I still managed to find 14 species of warblers with two new for me for the year (Prothonotary Warbler and Kentucky Warbler).
I got out a little at the end of July in the local area and turned up some warblers with lots of breeding activity still obvious.
In the first two days of August I hit a wide variety of areas and quickly added 19 species to the August list including a few slightly late species like Louisiana Waterthrush and Cerulean Warbler.
I had a couple early migrant warblers on the 3rd of August with two Tennessee Warblers and a Northern Parula. Although out looking for more early arrivals through the middle of the month I didn't find any. There were certainly some other species around and mixed flocks began to come more common.
I found a record late Worm eating Warbler on the 20th plus more early arriving warblers. By the end of the month I had found 24 species in the county for the month, which is about a high a total as I have ever had.
I started September with finding a decent selection of warblers in the first three days of the new month. By the end of a very warm first week of the month I was up to 24 species with a few more likely to come before the month ended.
I got my first Connecticut Warbler of the year on the 11th in a cornfield in Northampton. By the middle of the month I continued to get some great diversity of species and good numbers overall.
As I made it toward the third week of the month I had more mixed flocks in multiple locations and the numbers of Tennessee Warblers and Cape May Warblers (as well as others) continued to impress. Great weather through the end of the third week and into the fourth week of the month found me spending four consecutive mornings at Arcadia (and a couple other spots later in the morning) during which I found two more Connecticut Warblers, two early Orange crowned Warbler among some 24 species for that four day period.
By the end of the month I had set a record for the number of species seen in the county for September with a total of 28 species.
I made it out as much as I could for the first week of October and found a number of lingering species and found a total of 15 species by the end of the week. Wilson also had his surgery moved up to the 6th and he made it through fine.
By the middle of the month I had found a number of late warblers with new late dates for Ovenbird and Cape May Warbler and then had an even later Cape May Warbler a few days later.
The diversity of warblers dropped off quite a bit into the third week of October but I did find a few slightly late species. By the end of October the weather warmed up to record setting levels before a cool down and I ended the month with 16 species of warblers. The end of the month also brought my first walks with Wilson following his surgery to remove the rupture tumor on his foot.
The first week of November featured a very late Wilson's Warbler among a total of four species as we endured some cold and the first little dusting of snow. The Wilson's Warbler first showed up in late October and it took me a couple trips to find it.
The second week of the month featured a day when I had three species in a morning and then a new late date for me for Nashville Warbler in the county.
With a couple of late species around I decided to do a big warbler day for November and had four species for the day and set two more late dates for the continued Wilson's Warbler and Nashville Warbler. The multiple Pine Warblers continued at Winsor Dam into the fourth week of the month despite some cold and snow. Even more amazing was the Nashville Warbler that continued through at least the November 26th.
I started off the final month of the year looking for warblers (of course!) and found two species (yellow rumped Warbler and Pine Warbler) bringing my streak to 80 continuous months of finding at least one warbler species in Hampshire County. In addition with finding two species for the month I managed to see at least two species of warbler every month this year.
I made a final trip out of the country to get more new warbler species from early December through the middle of the month. My first stop was to Brazil with five target species including Southern Yellowthroat, White striped Warbler, Flavescent Warbler, White browed Warbler and Riverbank Warbler. Happily I found all five target species and got great looks at all of them.
After my time in Brazil I made a short stop in Panama in a long shot attempt to find a Tacarcuna Warbler on Cerro Azul but I failed in that attempt. I still had some warblers with a few of those being a bit unusual in Panama including Yellow throated Warbler and Black throated Green Warbler.
Once back from the tropics I caught up with some of the continued Pine Warblers at Winsor Dam before I had my fourth bout of Covid (which was my worst case yet). I ended out the year with tracking down some Pine Warblers and Yellow rumped Warblers in the county.
The camera at the water feature once again captured a number of warblers with a total of eleven for the year. The cameras I have been nursing along for the last few years at the water feature finally stopped working altogether so I had to get a new camera. Although it didn't offer as much close up detail it was still quite productive after initially installing. I now have yet another new camera that arrived just a bit too late to try for capturing warblers but it will be out next year for sure.
The arrival of the new year brings more trips to locations away from western Massachusetts. At this point I have multiple trips planned with a trip to Great Abaco in the Bahamas and then to south Florida in January, a way overdue trip back to Costa Rica in March and a summer trip somewhere for our 20th wedding anniversary. A trip to Bolivia and/or Peru is also in the cards if I can possibly make it come together.
Below are a few tallies for the year with overall warblers seen, warblers per month overall and warblers per month in Hampshire County.
Warblers (running tally for year)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
14 14 19 21 35 35 37 37 38 38 38 45
Warblers overall per month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
14 2 15 12 31 23 24 24 28 16 6 20
Hampshire County warblers by month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2 2 2 11 30 22 19 24 28 16 6 2
