Last couple days with more migration

Broad winged Hawks, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 16, 2013 (iPhone shots through binoculars)

Broad winged Hawks, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 16, 2013 (iPhone shots through binoculars)

Bald Eagle with Broad winged Hawk, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 16, 2013 (iPhone shots through binoculars)

Cape May Warbler, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 16, 2013 (iPhone shots through binoculars)

Cape May Warbler, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 16, 2013 (iPhone shots through binoculars)

Yellow rumped Warbler, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 16, 2013 (iPhone shots through binoculars)

When I woke up before dawn and had a little bit of rain coming down I thought there would be a chance of birds being forced down by the weather so I headed over to the honeypot but, alas, the rain was only sprinkles until well after daybreak so no luck with any groundings. The honeypot was quiet first thing with only a few Killdeer (others had some flyover golden plovers a bit later). As I was standing on the dike there I saw a few day old report of Black crowned Night Herons at the Barrett St marsh so I decided to try my luck there. I didn't have high hopes of finding the birds but thought it was worth a try nonetheless. No luck finding the bird there but, oh well...you got to try! I then decided to make a swing through the fields of the East Meadows but only found a few Killdeer. Ian and Keenan where already there and had a couple golden plovers that flew away to the north. We then decided to head back to the honeypot where we arrived to have the rain start up a bit heavier. We ran across a few groups of birds in the fields including five species of sparrow including a Vesper and four Lincoln's Sparrows. Still a good show of Indigo Buntings around with at least 16 individuals. Also still had some Bobolinks around with the total reaching at least 22. The rain made viewing a bit difficult at times. With the rain continuing and the morning getting later Ian and Keenan left and I hit a few other areas there before heading to the rail trail to check out the hop brook marsh along the rail trail. Nothing too unusual at the rail trail so I headed home to get Wilson to go for a walk along the Jabish Canal. This stop proved to be the best stop of the day as we had a few migrant groups moving through which contained ten warbler species including a Cape May Warbler and a notice increase in the number of Yellow rumped Warblers. Around noon I started to notice a movement of Broad winged Hawks and birds started bubbling up and continued to move past fast and furious for about 20 minutes and then it all stopped as fast as it started. I counted at least 140 individuals but there were likely many, many more as I was concentrating on the other migrants down low. Perhaps these Broad wings were the leftovers from the huge push through Massachusetts yesterday with a few hawk watches having well over 10,000 birds pass by.  Other raptors around included Red Shouldered Hawk, Bald Eagle, Cooper's Hawks and Turkey Vultures. Other birds of note among the 40 or so species there included two Winter Wrens and an Eastern Wood Pewee still calling. As all the activity was taking place I got a call from Bob Z. who was in the East Meadows and having a great show of migrants that he described as 'warblers pouring through and everywhere'. He had multiple Connecticut Warblers, a Mourning Warbler, an Orange crowned Warbler, a few Wilson's Warblers and a Cape May Warbler plus a possible Sedge Wren among many others.  A rainy early morning that turned into a nice late morning.  Luckily for everyone you get to enjoy some spectacular photos of the day taken with my iPhone through my binoculars...enjoy!

Great Blue Heron, Quabbin Park, Sep 15, 2013

 

Wood Duck, Quabbin Park, Sep 15, 2013

Black Duck, Quabbin Park, Sep 15, 2013

Another night of heavy migration yesterday resulted in more new birds around during the morning. The radar was lit up once again with lots of nocturnal flight calls heard as I stood outside during the evening. I started off the chilly morning (42 degrees) at Covey WMA. Due to the fog and the cool temperatures the activity was a little slow but I still managed to find 42 Wood Ducks leaving their roost as well as a flyby American Woodcock. With the sun rapidly rising I headed to Quabbin Park where I spent the next three hours exploring various spots. I ran into some pockets of migrants and managed a total of 15 species of warbler with the highlights being a Tennessee Warbler and Bay breasted Warbler. Most others were either Black throated Green Warblers or Blackpoll Warblers. Many other zipped by overhead and remained unidentified. Other notable birds included six Swainson's Thrush (with three in one tree), six Scarlet Tangers, lots of phoebes, another woodcock, Yellow bellied Sapsucker, 21 Gray Catbirds, 18 Eastern Towhees, and a dozen Red eyed Vireos with a total of 55 species seen.

Tonight should feature another push of birds with more north winds and I will be out listening for nocturnal flight calls this evening and hitting some spots tomorrow morning for the new arrivals.