A morning at Arcadia as mid winter like conditions settle in plus some banded birds at home

Northern Shrike, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 14, 2018

Northern Shrike, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 14, 2018

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 14, 2018

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 14, 2018

Fox Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 14, 2018

Dusting of snow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 14, 2018

It appears that conditions more like mid winter have arrived and it is forecast to just get worse.  Although it was suppose to be sunny all day I awoke to find some light snow showers coming down that increased in intensity as I arrived at Arcadia with enough snow coming down to leave a dusting.  The temperatures today never climbed out of the low to mid 30's and the strong northwest winds had wind chills in the teens all day.  The core of the cold will arrive tonight with lows in the teens to single digits possible in some areas with highs tomorrow barely breaking the freezing mark..record setting cold for sure.  On top of it all we will get a bout of snow that will likely accumulate several inches from Thursday night into Friday morning.  Despite the less than ideal conditions the couple of hours I had available in the morning proved quite productive at Arcadia.  After much searching I finally got better looks at the Northern Shrike that has been present for several days down there.  I had seen it briefly and distantly a few days ago so it was nice to see it for a longer period and much closer.  I also tried to locate another Northern Shrike along the rail trail a couple days ago but failed to turn that one back up.  Besides the shrike there were other notables around today including three late Ruby crowned Kinglets, half a dozen Yellow rumped Warblers as well as some waterfowl and raptors moving.  All and all a good morning despite the cold temperatures with 48 species tallied during my time at Arcadia.

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands and Tufted Titmouse, Home, Belchertown, MA, Nov 14, 2018

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands and Tufted Titmouse, Home, Belchertown, MA, Nov 14, 2018

With the arrival of the cold I decided to try putting some feeders out (hopefully the bears won't be back).  In just a day I managed to capture two of my banded birds (both chickadees) on the cameras I have trained on the feeders.  Both the the birds were banded this season as part of the Neighborhood Nestwatch program.