September begins with lots of Red breasted Nuthatches and Red Crossbills

Red breasted Nuthatch, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Red breasted Nuthatch, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Red breasted Nuthatch, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Red Crossbill (Type 10), Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Red Crossbill (Type 10), Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Blackburnian Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Red eyed Vireo, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Yellow throated Vireo, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Wood Ducks, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Purple Finch, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Sep 1, 2020

Now that September has begun the peak of fall migration has arrived and I was out before dawn to start the month.  I began a very productive morning at Winsor Dam where I had at least one Eastern Whip Poor Will still calling distantly as well as a couple species of owls.  I next headed over to Lake Wallace and one of the first birds I heard on arriving was a very late Louisiana Waterthrush singing a partial song along the outflow stream.  I tried to track it down to get a photo or recording but had no luck in doing so...my latest record ever for the species in the county (beating my previous late date of Aug 26, 2012).  Other notables around the lake included at least one Virginia Rail still calling and at least 16 Green Herons (down from a season high of 36 on August 26th).  I then headed over to Quabbin Park looking for migrants with the focus on the ongoing irruption of Red breasted Nuthatches.  As soon as I arrived I started hearing Red breasted Nuthatches and they were seldom out of ear shot with large concentrations in areas with pines.  I ended the morning with a total of at least 102 individuals (my highest count ever for the county) and most of these were heard only so the total was almost certainly higher...a truly impressive showing of this species this fall.  I also ran across multiple small groups of Red Crossbills (all Type 10) and got some of the best looks I have had of the species so far this season.  Other highlights for the morning at Quabbin Park including at least three Yellow throated Vireos, 29  Red eyed Vireos, 16 White breasted Nuthatches, a few Purple Finch flyovers (seems like a flight of these is starting to occur this fall too), 26 Eastern Towhees and ten species of warbler.  After running a few errands I made a brief stop along the rail trail in Hadley where I had two Olive sided Flycatchers and more Purple Finches.  It was a good start to the month with a total of 89 species for the day.

Wilson patiently waiting for a stick to be thrown, Aug 31, 2020

This August ended up being my best August ever for overall species in Hampshire County with a total of 151 species, easily eclipsing my previous best August back in 2018 when I had 143 species.

The latest update tropical update shows a recently formed tropical storm south of Jamaica (Tropical Storm Nana) and another tropical storm (Tropical Storm Omar) off the east coast of the US.  TS Nana is forecast to move west into Belize and Honduras and TS Omar is forecast to move off the mid Atlantic coast and have no direct landmass impacts before it fizzles out in the north Atlantic.  There are a few more tropical waves coming off Africa that may develop in the long term but nothing soon.  The peak of tropical season is rapidly approaching the activity continues to be high.