Connecticut Warbler today and loads of other migrants the last two days

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2017

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2017

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2017

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2017

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2017

Prairie Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2017

Philadelphia Vireo, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2017

I met up with Keenan this morning and we explored quite a bit of area around Arcadia with one of our main goals being Connecticut Warbler...and we were successful!  It will be interesting to see how many of them I can find this year, I'm off to a good start with two so far.  Last year was my best year ever when I tallied a total of ten individuals (Connecticut Warblers 2016).  Besides the CT warblers we had a nice cross section of species (75 total species) and although the numbers were low for some species the diversity was quite high.  Full list with additional photos here:  Arcadia

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Philadelphia Vireo, Amherst, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Nashville Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Magnolia Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Pine Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Northern Parula, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Tennessee Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Blackpoll Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Black throated Blue Warbler, Amherst, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Bay breasted Warbler, Amherst, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Wilson's Warbler, Amherst, MA, Sep 9, 2017

Yesterday morning I got up and out before dawn to make a quick stop over to Winsor Dam before heading out to various locations to catch up with what I was sure would be lots of migrants.  My main target at the dam was to see if any whip poor wills were still around calling.  No luck with those but I did have a Northern Saw Whet Owl calling which was a nice consolation prize.  I could hear lots of flight calls as I listened to the owl so I didn't stick around too long as I wanted to be checking some running spots at dawn on the cool morning.  I headed to various spots around Amherst for the morning until the wind picked up and then I headed over to a more sheltered spot at Quabbin Park.  An absolutely great early fall morning with good numbers and good diversity.  Highlights for the morning included at least eight Wood Thrush calling predawn, two Great crested Flycatchers, five vireo species (including five Philadelphia Vireos), my first Ruby crowned Kinglet of the fall, 21 species of warblers (12 Tennessee, a Mourning, 13 Northern Parula, 24, Magnolia, 2 Bay breasted, 30 or so Blackpoll, 3 Canada and 2 Wilson's and others) and a flyby Dickcissel.  The diversity the last couple days in unlikely to be duplicated again until next spring as more and more species move out for the winter.  Without too much effort I topped a hundred species in the last couple days with 22 species of warblers.


Hurricane Irma made two landfalls in Florida with the first in the keys and the second near Marco Island. The storm had regained some strength after it got back over the very warm waters of the Florida Strait and hit the US as a Category 4 storm with 130 MPH.  Not as bad as some of the islands in the Lesser Antilles but still very bad.  The storm should continue to lose strength as it moves north along the west coast of Florida.  Once again the link to storm related birds can be found at the following link: Hurricane Irma and birding

Eastern Phoebe with leg bands, home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 10, 2017

Raccoon, home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 5, 2017

At home the motion cameras continue to capture some good stuff although the number of birds coming into the water feature has dropped off a bit (typical for the fall).  I did manage to capture the banded Eastern Phoebe that I had not seen around in several weeks plus a few species of mammals.