The first couple days of July with continued rarities and some cool, rainy weather

Purple Martins, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Jul 1, 2021

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jul 1, 2021

July has started off with a number of rarities continuing from earlier in the year including Acadian Flycatcher, Purple Martins and Blue Grosbeak.  After getting out of work yesterday morning I headed up to Williamsburg to catch up with a continuing Acadian Flycatcher as well as a number of other breeding species including a dozen species of warblers.  I then headed back down to the valley with stops at Arcadia, the Honey Pot (finding Blue Grosbeak) and Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River (at least three Purple Martins present).  I also added my 30,000th complete eBird list for Hampshire County on July 1.

Great Horned Owl, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 2, 2021

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 2, 2021

Chimney Swift, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Jul 2, 2021

Black Vultures, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Jul 2, 2021

Walking in the clouds, Skinner SP, Hadley, MA, Jul 2, 2021

Today started off very rainy and stayed that way for most of the day with a few lulls now and then.  It also got progressively cooler throughout the day and highs stayed in the 60's.  I tried my luck early on in the rain trying to find a late migrant downed by the weather (like an Arctic Tern for instance) but no luck at Winsor Dam, Lake Wallace or the Holyoke Dam.  Winsor Dam was very slow and Lake Wallace was not much better but I did get a good look at a juvenile Great Horned Owl being mobbed by blackbirds and some Green Herons successfully hunting frogs there  The rain turned into a downpour at that point and I headed southwest to hopefully get out of the rain at the Holyoke Dam.  Thankfully the rain turned to just a drizzle about ten minutes after I arrived at the dam.  Nothing too unusual but there were three Black Vultures and 360+ Chimney Swifts as well as more Ring billed Gulls than I have had during my last several visits there (up to five as breeding birds start dispersing).  With the rain down to just some drizzle I headed up to Skinner SP and walked up to the summit and back, adding several new species for the new month.  The highlight was watching an adult male Cerulean Warbler feeding caterpillars to a very fledgling.  I wish I had my good camera with me but it was neat to see nonetheless.  The rain started coming down heavy again by the time I made it back to the car and I called it a day.  Despite the less than ideal conditions to start the month I have managed to find 109 species so far.  

In the first of what will likely be many tropical updates over the next few months there is yet another tropical system that has formed in the Atlantic, Hurricane Elsa, which became a named storm on July 1st and then quickly became a hurricane today.  This is the earliest date ever for an "E" lettered storm in the Atlantic, beating the old record set last year which was July 6th (TS Edouard).  The storm formed well east of  Barbados and then moved west/northwest and impacted several islands in the Lesser Antilles.  It is unusual to have a storm form in that area so early in the hurricane season.  It is forecast to remain a hurricane as it impacts the Greater Antilles before becoming a possible threat to Florida by early next week.