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| LeConte's Sparrow, Deerfield, MA, Oct 14, 2019 |
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| LeConte's Sparrow, Deerfield, MA, Oct 14, 2019 |
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| LeConte's Sparrow, Deerfield, MA, Oct 14, 2019 |
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| LeConte's Sparrow, Deerfield, MA, Oct 14, 2019 |
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| Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2019 |
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| Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2019 |
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| Savannah Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 14, 2019 |
After seeing a report late yesterday of a LeConte’s Sparrow in Deerfield I almost headed there first thing this morning but I figured the chances of turning up this usually rather skulking species were low. Instead I headed back to
Arcadia where I stopped on my way home from work yesterday and had a lot of Yellow rumped Warblers and sparrows. I didn’t have a lot of time yesterday to check many areas at Arcadia but today I had a bit more time. I arrived to find some spotty fog but a full moon lighting up the meadows. Almost as soon as the fog burned off low clouds settled in and it stayed cloudy the remainder of the morning but the bird activity was still high. With more time this morning I was able to get a better handle on the actual numbers of Yellow rumped Warblers and sparrows and the numbers were impressive. I had at least 243 Yellow rumped Warblers with many feeding in the remains of a cornfield near the trolley line before it got mowed down at which point they flew into a hedgerow I was walking down. As the tractor cut down the corn the numbers of warblers moving about was impressive. More on warblers for the day at the following
link. Sparrows were also present in large numbers with good variety with a total of eight species and hundreds of individuals. The biggest numbers were made up of White throated, Savannah’s, Song and Swamp Sparrows. My numbers overall for the morning are quite conservative and I still didn’t come close to covering all the areas of Arcadia. After a bit over three hours at Arcadia I saw a message from James saying the LeConte’s Sparrow was still present and showing nicely. Although not a Hampshire County bird the chances of adding a life bird anywhere in western Massachusetts was worth making the trip north. I arrived in Deerfield just a bit after ten and started checking the area and after just a relatively short time of looking the bird popped up low in a hedge along the river and gave great views and allowed for some photos...a very cooperative bird! I was super happy to find it and add a new species to my life list...#1511.
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