May has now come to an end and with it the peak of spring of migration. It is a great month to be out and about enjoying new arrivals most days. I concentrated on warblers for the month and didn't spend much time checking any habitat that would not have warblers and I didn't really chase rarities (which there were few of anyway). With all this in mind I had my lowest species total in Hampshire County since 2012 with just 166 species (My best May here was back in 2021 when I had an amazing 180 species for the month). Although I didn't set out to do so when birding the last few weeks I managed to get what is probably my longest stretch of consecutive days in Hampshire County with at least 100 species. The streak ran from May 11 until May 24 (I'm sure I could have continued the streak through the end of the month if I didn't have to go back to work on the 25th). My biggest day overall was May 15 with 119 species and I certainly could have added several species with just a little more effort. It speaks to the diversity of migration here that one can reach 100 species everyday for weeks with some effort.
As the migration season slows down I enter bird survey season for me. On Memorial Day I took part in the 18th annual bird survey up at Kevin and Cynthia's land in the corner of Amherst, Shutesbury and Pelham. I have taken part for most of those 18 years. They own a total of 325 acres with a mix of habitats. It is always a treat to explore the beautiful property that they manage with birds first and foremost in their minds. I arrived there around 7AM after doing a little birding elsewhere. This year Kevin invited any members of the Hampshire Bird Club to take part in the survey. Although we had some decent number of expected species diversity was down a bit from previous years with a total of 55 species. Some areas of the woods were surprisingly quiet for late May.
I conducted my first Eastern Whip Poor Will survey on the 30th and the conditions were perfect with clear skies and calm winds. A little wildfire smoke that arrived from Nova Scotia right around sunset didn't have much impact beyond making for some neat sunset photos. I have whip poor wills at 8 out of 10 stops with the vast majority within Quabbin Park (as usual). I had a total of 20 Eastern Whip Poor Wills over the entire course of the route (passive listening at each stop for six minutes with stops separated by approximately one mile). I hope to complete my second survey route tonight on the restricted access Prescott Peninsula.
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