The last few days around here plus an update on Hurricane Florence birds

Black throated Green Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2018

Chestnut sided Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 13, 2018

Northern Harrier, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 14, 2018

Brown Thrasher, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 14, 2018

Yellow Warbler, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 14, 2018

Gray Catbird, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 14, 2018

The last couple of days have produced some decent birds despite the cloudy and damp conditions.  I made a few stops on Thursday including a mosquito filled trip to Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River which held some nice groups of warbler moving through.  I then headed over to Quabbin Park which was not quite as productive (but just as mosquito filled!).  Friday I started out predawn in North Hadley checking out some shorebirds (50+ Killdeer and a single Semipalmated Plover) before heading south to the Honey Pot were I had several good birds including a Clay colored Sparrow and flyover Dickcissel (plus lots of other migrants).  Today I spent a very foggy morning at Arcadia which was somewhat quiet given the date and decent migrant conditions last night.  Nonetheless there were still birds to be found and luckily the biggest mixed species flock moved through while a large birding group from Arcadia was there to see it.  I think everyone came away quite satisfied to see a variety of migrants (even if most birds stayed fairly high up).

Tropical Storm Florence projected path as of 5PM, Sep 15, 2018 (courtesy of NHC)

A quick update on Hurricane Florence.  It made landfall in southern North Carolina as a relatively weak hurricane (compared to what it could have been if it had not lost strength).  Nonetheless the wind field for the storm was rather large and the storm surge was quite high.  As expected the biggest problem has been heavy rain as the storm slowed down near the coast and continues to meander through the area dropping lots of rain.  The storm will slowly move northwest and then make a curve to the northeast and the remnants should come through here late Monday into Tuesday with heavy rain.  As far as storm related birds the best I have seen so far is a Trindade Petrel (along with a number of terns and gulls) at Buckhorn Reservoir in central North Carolina (full eBird list).  There have been a number of other notables including a few inland Sabine's Gulls and an inland Parasitic Jaeger.  I'm sure more stuff will be reported over the next several days.  Birdcast now has a page dedicated to unusual sightings associated with the storm that can be found at the following link.