End of April

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 29, 2020

 Palm Warbler 'yellow', Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 29, 2020

Black and White Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 29, 2020

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 29, 2020

Louisiana Waterthrush, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Apr 29, 2020

Eastern Phoebe, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 29, 2020

Today would be my last day to try to find stuff for the month and the weather finally cooperated a bit. Conditions overnight decent for migration with calm winds which I hoped would result in the arrival of at least some of the migrants that should already have arrived.  Although there was not a huge influx of migrants I still found a half a dozen new species for the year in Hampshire County including two warblers (more on warblers at the following link).  I started out the morning before dawn at Winsor Dam where I had my first Eastern Whip Poor Will of the season.  I then moved east with stops Mitch's Way, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, and finally to Quabbin Park.  Mitch's Way was a little slow but it was still early and cold while I was there.  Silvio Conte NWR was really slow and I didn't stay there too long.  The most productive spot was Quabbin Park with the most impressive sighting being triple digit numbers of Yellow rumped Warblers in just a few spots.  I checked through the constantly moving flocks but failed to find anything rare in among the hordes.  The weather over the next few days look to feature southerly winds and some heavy rain before turning sunny later on Saturday into Sunday.  I suspect there will be a big push of migrants during this period with Sunday perhaps being the best day...time will tell.  April was overall a little slower as far as migrants go with 131 species for the month in the county (below my last few years).

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 28, 2020

Canada Goose goslings, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 28, 2020

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 28, 2020

Tree Swallows, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 28, 2020

Yesterday was certainly better than the previous days but there were still occasionally showers and the temperatures started out in the 30’s (thankfully the sun broke out late morning to warm things up a bit but it still stayed below average in the low 50’s with a wind out of the northwest). I started my morning at Winsor Dam trying for anything that might have been downed by all the rain and wind yesterday but no luck. I then headed west and hit a few spots before heading back toward home. Overall it was very slow for the morning considering the date. Afternoon was spent around the house catching up on yard work with the best bird being a calling Virginia Rail in the marsh late in the afternoon.

American Robin, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 28, 2020

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 29, 2020

A few birds have shown up at the water feature during our few sunny periods but so far nothing unusual although I did get my first warbler for the season today when a Palm Warbler came by.