Good start to July

Peregrine Falcon, Hadley, MA, Jul 1, 2020

Peregrine Falcon, Hadley, MA, Jul 1, 2020

Peregrine Falcons, Hadley, MA, Jul 1, 2020

Canada Warbler, Pelham MA, Jul 1, 2020

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Pelham MA, Jul 1, 2020

I decided to start off July by searching for as many warbler species as I could find in Hampshire County over the course of a morning.  I managed to find a total of 19 species of warblers plus a continuing hybrid....more details on that can be found at the following link: warblers to start July  As I searched for the various warblers I was finding lots of other stuff so I decided to see how many total species I could find in the morning before our ongoing showery and stormy weather started back up.  My morning started with a hike up the mountain at Skinner SP through the mist and ended back in Belchertown with multiple stops along the way through Hadley, Amherst and Pelham.  During my travels I turned up a total of 104 species which I thought was fairly good for the first day of July.  I could have added more species to this total for sure if I started earlier in the day and got some nocturnal species like owls and whip poor wills and/or followed up on some rarities (like the Common Tern that showed up at the Oxbow a couple days ago) or just kept going after lunch but my time was limited and the weather turned rainy by midday.