The beginning of September

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 2, 2022

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 2, 2022

Song Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 2, 2022

Cooper's Hawk, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 2, 2022

Although the migration conditions were fantastic overnight with light winds after multiple days of strong southerly winds and the radar showing a lot of birds moving overnight the results on the ground this morning at Arcadia were less than stellar with few obvious migrants around.  After almost two and a half hours of looking I had just two species of warblers!  Unfortunately I had other commitments that ended my birding a little after eight so not sure if it picked up later after the sun warmed things up a bit more (the morning started off with temps in the mid 40's).  There were also lots of raptors around plus a few of the usually productive areas had no trails to them or had signs up prohibiting access to sanctuary property because of farming activity (this has no occurred in previous years but it seems Mass Audubon cares more about keeping farmers happy on sanctuary land then providing good bird habitat and/or providing access to those that donate...may have to reconsider sending more money to Arcadia).  After completing my class for the day I came home and got Wilson and we went for an early afternoon walk and finally came across a small mixed flock that had half a dozen warbler species including my first Bay breasted Warbler of the fall....although I had high hopes for the morning it was rather lackluster but at least it was a beautiful day.

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 1, 2022

Wilson's Warbler, Ware, MA, Sep 1, 2022

Yellow throated Vireo, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2022

Black and White Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2022

Eastern Towhee, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 1, 2022

I started out the month yesterday morning with visits to a few spots in my immediate area including Lake Wallace, Ware and Quabbin Park.  Although the day started off fairly calm the winds picked up a lot by a little after eight and stayed up all day.  I started off before dawn picking up a slightly late Eastern Whip Poor Will at Quabbin Park before heading to Lake Wallace where I got the expected species plus a Common Nighthawk flying past moving south (two nightjars for the morning).  I was then off to Ware as the sun started heating up the day.  I had small mixed flock that produced a Mourning Warbler as well as my first Wilson's Warbler of the fall.  A stop a bit later at Quabbin Park also turned up a mixed flock with a decent selection of birds although the ever increasing winds made picking birds out progressively more difficult.