Upcoming storm and birds the last couple days

Yellow bellied Sapsucker, Hadley, MA, Apr 11, 2020

 Snow Goose, Connecticut River, South Hadley, MA, Apr 11, 2020

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Belchertown, MA, Apr 10, 2020

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Belchertown, MA, Apr 10, 2020

Common Merganser, Belchertown, MA, Apr 10, 2020

The last couple days have seen some migrants moving in with a slight increase in the numbers of Palm Warbler and Yellow rumped Warblers as well as Yellow bellied Sapsuckers plus some unusual migrants including a Marsh Wren at Quabbin Park yesterday.  Overall the weather has been less than perfect for migration with mainly north winds and cool temperatures.  This looks to change tomorrow with a fairly strong southerly wind throughout the day and into Monday with some potentially heavy rain overnight Sunday into a good portion of the day on Monday as a very strong storm moves up into the Great Lakes.  The setup is good for the potential for an early season overshoot situation where birds moving north trying to get to the southern United States get caught up in the strong southerly winds offshore and ride them north into New England flying downwind until they hit a piece of land to settle down on.  A situation like this usually brings in migrants that normally never come this far north and/or migrants that should not arrive until later in spring.  The possibilities of species is fairly broad and the coast usually fares much better in these types of weather conditions but it will be worth getting out and looking for birds for the next few days around here (Birdcast has some additional information on this set up at the following link).  Conditions such as these can result in fallout conditions on the coast further to the south (where birds fight against unfavorable winds until they reach the coast in droves and totally exhausted) or overshoot and end up well to the north.  A third unfortunate and all to frequent possibility is that birds migrating at this time suffer high levels of mortality due to these weather conditions and never make it to land.   During the rainy weather it is worth checking bodies of water and flooded fields for grounded birds and then checking a variety of habitats over the following days.  One spot I would love to be during the poor weather on Monday would be Winsor Dam but the state has now closed the entire area of Quabbin Park to cars indefinitely due to the Covid 19 pandemic (with no parking area open closing it to vehicles pretty much closes the park to everyone) .  My opinion on this is that it is a knee jerk reaction and a bad idea to close off large swaths of open spaces just when people need them the most.  It makes no sense really.  People will want to go outside (and should) especially as the weather gets warmer and nicer as spring moves along (obviously adhering to recommended social distancing).  It is good for both mental and physical health and shutting off areas to people at this time is short sighted in my book and without merit.  As each new open space area is closed off people will be concentrated on the remaining open spaces either causing additional areas to be closed or causing more close contact among people.

Northern Cardinal, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 11, 2020

Dark eyed Junco and White throated Sparrow, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 8, 2020

Mouse species, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 8, 2020

Meanwhile at home the water feature continues to add new species of both avian and mammal types for the year.  Nothing too unusual yet but hopeful for some rarities this season.