Several bird surveys, more Mourning Warblers and an epic list from Quebec

Goodnough Dike at dusk, Quabbin Park, MA, May 23, 2018

I conducted both of my Eastern Whip Poor Will surveys in the past several days and found a decent number of birds (and actually saw several).  The routes consist of 10 stops at one mile intervals with passive listening at each stop for six minutes...the conditions have to be clear, calm and the moon has to be up so it can be tough to get the routes in as lining up all the right conditions with time off can be tough.  My first route, which goes through Quabbin Park and then south along the Swift River, was completed on May 23rd and was very productive (at least within Quabbin Park) with a total of 26 Eastern Whip Poor Wills with 25 of them in Quabbin Park.  My second route goes from the southern part of the Prescott Peninsula all the way up to the northern end of the peninsula and I completed that route last night.  Last night was the first time I have ever had two species of nightjars during one of my survey when I had singing Eastern Whip Poor Wills and a calling Common Nighthawk at one of my stops...very cool.  Someday perhaps I will find a Chucks Wills Widow on one of my routes.  I also had a Northern Saw Whet Owl at one of my stops last night...only the second time I have recorded that species during a EWPW survey.  In addition to the birds I had a family of Black Bears at my first stop and a Moose near the end of the survey plus way too numerous ticks and mosquitoes.

Here are the comparisons of the previous surveys since I started running them..it was a good year:

Prescott

2012 -9 total individuals with 7 at survey stops
2013 -9 total individuals with all at survey stops
2014 -7 total individuals with all at survey stops
2015 -10 total individuals with 7 at survey stops
2016 -10 total individuals with 7 at survey stops
2017 -15 total individuals with 11 at survey stops
2018 -19 total individuals with 7 at survey stops

Quabbin Park

2013 -6 total individuals with 5 at survey stops
2014 -14 total individuals with all at survey stops
2015 -13 total individuals with 11 at survey stops
2016 -6 total individuals with all at survey stops
2017 -19 total individuals with 15 at survey stops
2018 -26 total individuals with 14 at survey stops

On Monday I assisted in the 10th annual bird survey at Poverty Mountain in Shutesbury.  Although the weather was less than ideal there were still birds active but the rain certainly reduced the overall numbers and variety.  Even in bad weather it is a joy to bird at Kevin and Cynthia's farm. 

American Redstart on nest, Quabbin Park, MA, May 29, 2018

American Robin feeding nestlings, Quabbin Park, MA, May 29, 2018

Yellow billed Cuckoo, Quabbin Park, MA, May 29, 2018

Mourning Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 29, 2018

Hooded Mergansers, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, May 29, 2018

Today I spent my time around the local area with an early morning visit over to Lake Wallace before heading into Quabbin Park for a few hours where I had a decent selection of birds including at least three Mourning Warblers among some 70+ species.  The number of migrants continues to drop with most birds around now being breeders.

Red Foxes, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 27, 2018

Red Foxes, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 27, 2018

Red Fox, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 25, 2018

The Red Fox family is still around the house but not sure for how much longer as the kits are almost the same size as the adults.  I have caught just fleeting glimpses of them but the cameras around the yard have captured them quite a bit.

Eastern Phoebe with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 26, 2018

House Wren with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 26, 2018

American Robin with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 26, 2018

Tufted Titmouse and Chipping Sparrow watching a Garter Snake, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 28, 2018

Tree Swallow nest with egg, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 23, 2018

Swainson's Thrush, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 24, 2018

Eastern Phoebe nestlings, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 28, 2018

Multiple birds are breeding in the yard with some nests with eggs and others with nestlings being fed.  There has been a Swainson's Thrush that was hanging around the yard and occasionally singing for nearly a week but it seems it may have finally continued on with its migration.  I also continue to see a number of banded birds around the yard including Eastern Phoebe, House Wren and American Robin.  Still no sign of any of the GPS tagged robins but I'm keeping an eye out.  With any luck we will catch one (or more) when we band again on June 7th.  Besides the birds and mammals that I have caught on the camera I captured a Garter Snake on the camera yesterday.


I also just have to post a link to an absolutely incredible eBird list from former valley resident and good friend Ian Davies from yesterday up in Tadoussac, Quebec (located along the St. Lawrence River northeast of Quebec City).  I noticed a post from Ian last night regarding the day after I got home from my whip poor will survey.  When Ian started his post off last night regarding the list with the simple words "Today was the greatest birding day of my life" I knew I was in for a treat.  I opened the list to see totals of several species that were just mind blowing...721,000+ total warblers with 144,000+ Bay breasted Warblers, 108,000+ Cape May Warblers, 72,000+ Tennessee Warblers, 108,000+ Magnolia Warblers, etc, etc, etc.  Given the drastic drop in populations of so many neotropic migrants it is even more amazing to see these kind of numbers at a single point in a single day.  It truly does boggle the mind. As words cannot truly describe the absolute epic-ness of the the day I will let the list speak for itself: Tadoussac.  One of the largest (if not the largest) count of warblers in a single count...and the best part is the birds were just moving through on their way to breeding grounds....there have been a few high counts in the past but usually it is the result of weather grounding birds and resulting in high mortality but not the case with yesterdays list.  I know we had several great days of birding in the valley when Ian was here they don't even come close to his day yesterday.  Congrats to Ian and the others for being present (and documenting) a truly amazing day of migration.

Third week of May ends with lots of migrants

Black billed Cuckoos mating, Quabbin Park, MA, May 21, 2018

Rose breasted Grosbeak, Quabbin Park, MA, May 21, 2018

Baltimore Oriole, Quabbin Park, MA, May 21, 2018

Bay breasted Warbler, UMASS, Amherst, MA, May 21, 2018

Looking northeast from Enfield Lookout, Quabbin Park, MA, May 21, 2018

Olive sided Flycatcher, Quabbin Park, MA, May 21, 2018

Prairie Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 17, 2018

Wilson's Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 17, 2018

American Redstart building nest, Quabbin Park, MA, May 17, 2018

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 17, 2018

Ruby throated Hummingbird building nest, Quabbin Park, MA, May 17, 2018

Now that the third full week of May has come to an end migration is starting to slow (but it is not over yet).  The last week has featured some really great days of birding with obvious groups of migrants moving through.  The numbers of Cape May, Bay breasted and Tennessee Warblers continue to be impressive with way above average numbers compared to a typical spring around here (I will do a more in depth look at this once the migration season comes to an end).  Unfortunately it looks to be another huge impact from Gypsy Moths with the voracious bastards seemingly everywhere.  The cuckoo numbers seem to be quite high once again but their ability to make a dent in the incredible numbers of caterpillars is negligible.  Fingers crossed for an early onset of the fungi that kills them off before the damage is too severe but that seems like a remote hope at this point.

Mourning Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 22, 2018

Mourning Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 17, 2018

Mourning Warblers have started to arrive and I have found several so far and all have turned out to be from the eastern regiolect.  It appears to be another good migration season for them here with about half a dozen so far.

I will just list out below the last several days with selected eBird lists with additional photos and audio.

5/17
Quabbin Park (broke 100 species in a single visit)

5/19
Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River
UMASS

5/20
Quabbin Park
Home (entire afternoon with the Griffiths)

5/21
UMASS
Quabbin Park

5/22
Quabbin Park

Red Fox adult with prey, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 21, 2018

Red Fox kit licking his lips as dinner walks away, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 21, 2018

Red Fox kit, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 19, 2018

Veery, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 22, 2018

American Redstart, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 22, 2018

Gray Catbird, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 19, 2018

The cameras at the house continue to capture both birds and mammals including the family of Red Foxes.  I also finally found some banded Gary Catbirds back in the yard (just two so far but more catbirds seem to be arriving the last couple days).

Epic day produces 29 species of warbler among many migrants

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2018

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2018

Northern Parula, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2018

Blue winged x Golden winged Warbler hybrid, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2018

Black and White Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2018

Black throated Blue Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2018

Yellow Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2018

Yellow bellied Flycatcher, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2018

Bay breasted Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 16, 2018

Magnolia Warbler, UMASS, Amherst, MA, May 16, 2018

Cape May Warbler, UMASS, Amherst, MA, May 16, 2018

Wilson's Warbler, UMASS, Amherst, MA, May 16, 2018

An epic day of birding today with an amazing total of 29 species of warbler including my first Mourning Warbler of the season plus two even more unusual species with a rare Hooded Warbler and a rare in spring Orange crowned Warbler (it is a banner day when Mourning Warbler is the third best warbler species!).  Besides the warblers there were other migrants around including a singing Lincoln's Sparrow and a couple Green Herons chasing each other around.  After a couple hours at UMASS I then headed over to Quabbin Park in search of more migrants.  A few hours at Quabbin Park added a number of other species including my first Olive sided Flycatcher and Yellow bellied Flycatcher plus lots of other migrants.  The most impressive sighting for me was watching a group of three Cape May Warblers feeding at the top of oaks for several minutes and when I took a break and lowered my binoculars I saw first two, then three and then four male Cape May Warblers at near eye level!  I snapped away a number of photos and then just took in the spectacle of having this species so close.  The one area held an amazing seven Cape May Warblers (this is more then I see most seasons!)  The number of Cape May Warblers, Tennessee Warblers and Bay breasted Warblers continue to impress (I'll post more about this later in the season).  As the morning came to an end I decided I would make the trip over to Skinner SP to add two more warbler species to the list for the day bringing my total for the day up to 29 species...an amazing day...no need to travel very far to get good variety and numbers.  A more in depth review of the day in regards to warblers can be found at the following link: Warblers on May 16th

Cerulean Warbler building nest, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, May 15, 2018

Cerulean Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, May 15, 2018

Black throated Green Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 15, 2018

Ruby throated Humming Bird, Quabbin Park, MA, May 15, 2018

Wilson's Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 15, 2018

Blackpoll Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 15, 2018

Yesterday I spent the morning with Devin and Aidan in a successful attempt to get them a single day total in the county topping 100 species (without doing a lot of driving).  We started before dawn and covered Quabbin Park for several hours were we racked up 90 species with many highlights including a brief look at Eastern Whip Poor Wills, a Ruby throated Hummingbird building a nest, a Swainson's Thrush singing, 24 species of warbler including multiple Bay breasted, Cape May and Tennessee Warblers and lots of other stuff with a number of species collecting nesting material or building nests.  Although I think we could have surpassed the century mark with more effort in the park we decided to try our luck at Lake Wallace before heading over to Skinner SP (to max out the warblers for the day).  Lake Wallace added a few species but nothing out of the ordinary.  Skinner SP was productive with multiple Worm eating Warblers and at least three Cerulean Warblers, including a female building a nest.  We somehow missed junco at the summit but got a few raptors.

Bay breasted Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 14, 2018

Louisiana Waterthrush, Quabbin Park, MA, May 14, 2018

On Monday I hit a few spots in the morning and managed to find a total of 26 species of warblers during visits to Orchard Hill, Mitch's Way, Skinner SP and Quabbin Park.

Magnolia Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 15, 2018

Red Fox kit, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 14, 2018

Eastern Phoebe nest with five eggs, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 15, 2018

The Red Fox family continues to be seen around the yard and I added the 40th species to my water feature list (and the 13th warbler species there) when the camera captured a Magnolia Warbler.  Multiple species have now started nesting in the yard with some eggs noted.