A small pulse of migrants

Eastern Phoebe, UMASS Amherst, MA, Apr 28, 2013

Orchard Oriole, Wentworth Farm CA, Amherst, MA, Apr 28, 2013

Although today did not turn out to be "the day" of a big influx of migrants it nonetheless had some great highlights and added a number of species to my list for the year. I'll note the highlights of the day but I'm just too tired to go into great detail. I started out predawn at Covey WMA where I had a Eastern Whip-poor-will calling as well as Barred and Great Horned Owl. I tried for bittern here again but no luck. There were several Virginia Rails calling in various parts of the marsh. I next headed to a small marsh on rt 181 but, again no bittern. Same story when I went to the marsh near Gate 9 (more Virginia Rails but no bittern). I then headed over to UMASS starting at Orchard Hill where I joined a few other birders. The variety continues to increase with each passing day here and I added Gray Catbird (#150) , Nashville Warbler (#151), Warbling Vireo (#152), Black throated Blue Warbler (#153) and eventually Wood Thrush (#154). At this point we heard about a very unusual Mountain Bluebird found in Berkshire County. Everyone else headed up that way where they did indeed catch up with this species of the west. I stayed at UMASS and hit other parts of e campus where I added another new species to my year county list with a Northern Parula (#155). After UMASS I headed over to Wentworth Conservation Area before meeting up with Wilson and heading to Sunderland for a long walk off Middle Mountain Rd. Although not in Hampshire County ( the horror!) the area was quite nice and birdy with a nice show of Black throated Green Warblers and a point blank view of a Louisiana Waterthrush. On my way back home took another little walk around Wentworth Farm and turned up an Orchard Oriole (#156). I managed to add seven species to my county list for the year today.