A sunny warm day with migrants

Veery, Quabbin Park, MA, May 14, 2020

Gray Catbird, Quabbin Park, MA, May 14, 2020

Cedar Waxwings, Amherst, MA, May 14, 2020

Wilson's Warbler, Aqua Vitae Rd, Hadley, MA, May 14, 2020

Ovenbird, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, May 14, 2020

Cerulean Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, May 14, 2020

Canada Warbler, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, May 14, 2020

I tried my luck today to catch up with as many warbler species as I could but without the arrival of some late migrants and my failure to locate some lingering early migrants I fell short of my goal (but still managed 23 species of warbler). During my search I covered a lot of spots on the east side of the river during the morning before spending the rest of the afternoon at home. During my travels I found a total of 107 species for the day without trying to hard for species besides warblers.  The next few days look to feature more species moving in as the pattern is slowly shifting with south winds tonight into tomorrow.  There is a chance of the conditions producing something unusual as rain is forecast overnight as the southerly winds blow...we shall see.

Ovenbird, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 13, 2020

Swainson's Thrush, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 13, 2020

Downy Woodpecker, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 13, 2020

Baltimore Oriole, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 14, 2020

GrayCatbirds, Home, Belchertown, MA, May 14, 2020

Around the house the water feature continues to produce some good results with a new species added yesterday when an Ovenbird showed up bringing my list at the water feature to 48 species (the Ovenbird also became my 15th species of warbler at the water feature). I also set up a small feeding station with oranges at the house which has attached a number of Baltimore Orioles as well as Gray Catbirds and a Downy Woodpecker. I have also run a cross multiple banded birds in the yard and one (a Gray Catbird originally banded in 2017) has started to build a nest right near the house. The second nest of Hooded Mergansers should fledge sometime this weekend and hopefully I capture some more video of them as they leave the nest.