White eyed Vireo and others

Rose breasted Grosbeak, UMASS Amherst, Apr 27, 2013

Started the day predawn looking for American Bittern at a few marshes in Belchertown without luck (again). I did have a couple of Barred Owls calling back and forth at home before I left for the morning.  After my unproductive search for bitterns I headed over to Orchard Hill at UMASS. Although the conditions were not great for a big influx of migrants I was very surprised to not turn up a single warbler in over an hour. I did run across a couple of Rose breasted Grosbeaks (#146) as well as a few other migrants. 

 

White eyed Vireo, Barrett St marsh, Northampton, Apr 27, 2013

White eyed Vireo, Barrett St marsh, Northampton, Apr 27, 2013

Virginia Rail, Barrett St marsh, Northampton, Apr 27, 2013

Virginia Rail, Barrett St marsh, Northampton, Apr 27, 2013

I was on my way back to my car when I got a call about a White eyed Vireo at Barrett Street marsh in Northampton. I texted Ian and picked him up on my way through and headed over the river. We managed to find the bird fairly quickly but it never came in close but was actively feeding the entire time. The White eyed Vireo not only became species #147 for the year in the county it became my 274th species in Hampshire county ever. We also had at least three (probably many more) Virginia Rails calling from the marsh with at least two of them showing themselves very well (for rails). Also had a couple Green Herons (#148) flying past and then landing in the marsh. We decided to try our luck with finding some other unusual species at Mitch's Way but that area was fairly quiet. 

 

Yellow Warbler, UMASS Amherst, Apr 27, 2013

Yellow rumped Warbler, UMASS Amherst, Apr 27, 2013

Black and White Warbler, UMASS Amherst, Apr 27, 2013

We ended our morning checking out another part of campus where we ran across a few pockets of warblers including my first of year Yellow Warbler (#149). I tried my best to get to the 150 mark today but no such luck. However any day that gets me a new county bird is a good day indeed.

I would also like to mention a major accomplishment for a team of birders that shattered the old single day record of species recorded in the USA in a single day by a wide margin when they managed to find 294 species in 24 hours in Texas on April 25!  Truly amazing when you think the old record (also achieved by this team) stood at 264.  Here is a link that sums up the story of this amazing achievement.  http://www.birds.cornell.edu/roundrobin/2013/04/27/294-species-and-one-shattered-record-on-almost-perfect-big-day/