End of October

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 30, 2024

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Oct 30, 2024

American Robin with leucism, Hadley, MA, Oct 29, 2024

Purple Finch, Amherst, MA, Oct 29, 2024

Black Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 29, 2024

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA

Black Vulture, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 27, 2024

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 25, 2024

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Amherst, MA, Oct 23, 2024

Dark eyed Junco, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 23, 2024

Common Yellowthroat, Amherst, MA, Oct 22, 2024

The month of October has about come to an end so I will take a quick look at what the month produced.  I ended the month with 148 species in Hampshire County, which puts me at the high end of what I typically get.  Overall the weather was dry, sunny with slightly higher than typical temps and decent migration conditions (including some record warmth).  I mainly concentrated on warblers when I had free time.  Notables for the month included the long staying Black bellied Whistling Duck, Brant, Ruddy Duck, Lesser Black backed Gull, a few late swallows, Gray cheeked Thrush and a few late warblers and an ever increasing number of Purple Finches.  As the month comes to an end the diversity of waterfowl has ramped up and perhaps a rarity will show up among the more typical species.

Annual taxonomic update nets me nine new species

Northern House Wren, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Aug 28, 2015

The annual taxonomic update at eBird is now in the books and with the various splits and lumps I gained nine new species and lost one, giving me a net gain of nine species which brings my life total to 2014.

American Herring Gull, Ridegvale Beach, Chatham, MA, June 19, 2011

The first split that produced a new species for me was Herring Gull, which became four species, two of which I have seen.  The locals in the states became American Herring Gulls and those in Europe became European Herring Gulls (seen during a trip to Europe in 2019.

Brown Booby, At sea off St Vincent, Mar 22, 2023

Cocos Booby, Marino Ballena NP, Costa Rica, Dec 21, 2012

The next split that produced a new species was Brown Booby, which was split into two species with the new species being known as Brown Booby and Cocos Booby.  Brown Booby occurs in the Atlantic and into the Red Sea and Cocos Booby occurs in the Pacific.

Guatemala Flickers, Todos Santos Regional Municipal Park, Guatemala, Feb 9, 2018

Northern Flicker, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 24, 2021

The next split is Northern Flicker, which was split into two species with the new one being Guatemala Flicker (which I saw during my trip to Guatemala in February of 2018).  I have a feeling there are more splits to come from this area of Guatemala as there are multiple distinct subspecies there.

My next new species came from a split of Plain Xenops into Atlantic Plain Xenops and Northern Plain Xenops.  The Atlantic Plain Xenops occurs in southeast Brazil and I saw the species during my Brazil trip in December of last year.  The Northern Plain Xenops occurs from southern Mexico through central American and into northeast South America and I have seen the species in multiple countries on a variety of trips.

Northern House Wren, Orchard Hill, UMASS Amherst, MA, Sep 14, 2014

Southern House Wren, Rio Magnolia Lodge, Costa Rica, Jan 23, 2018

Kalinago Wren, Morne Diablotin NP, Dominica, Mar 24, 2023

Grenada Wren, Grenada, Dec 15, 2017

The last split that had an effect on my life total was House Wren and it was a big split. The species was split into seven species with those in the north getting a a new name (Northern House Wren) and those from Mexico south becoming known as Southern House Wren.  The remaining splits were on a variety of islands and I had all of these new island endemics during previous trips to the Caribbean and Mexico.  These new species including Cozumel Wren (on Cozumel Island off the Yucantan in Mexico), Kalinago Wren (Dominica), St. Lucia Wren, St. Vincent Wren and Grenada Wren.

The species I lost (Hoary Redpoll) occurred due to a lumping of the species back in with Common Redpoll.

Always fun to gain new species without having to travel anywhere new...an advantage of travelling widely on past birding trips.

Third week of October

White throated Sparrow, Amherst, MA, Oct 15, 2024

Gray Catbird, Amherst, MA, Oct 15, 2024

Canada Geese, Amherst, MA, Oct 16, 2024

Red bellied Woodpecker, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 16, 2024

Northern Cardinal, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 16, 2024

Song Sparrow, Amherst, MA, Oct 17, 2024

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Amherst, MA, Oct 17, 2024

White crowned Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 17, 2024

Cooper's Hawk, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 17, 2024

Purple Finch, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Oct 19, 2024

Merlin, Amherst, MA, Oct 19, 2024

Dark eyed Junco, Amherst, MA, Oct 19, 2024

Nashville Warbler, Amherst, MA, Oct 19, 2024

Ruddy Ducks, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 21, 2024 

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 21, 2024 

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 21, 2024 

Northern Flicker, Amherst, MA, Oct 21, 2024 

Song Sparrow, Amherst, MA, Oct 21, 2024 

The last week has produced a few new species for me for the month, which now stands at 132 (which is one of my lowest totals for October in several years).  I have continued to concentrate on warblers so I'm sure I have missed some species I would otherwise have tracked down for the month.  The weather has been fairly cooperative with mostly sunny conditions through most of the last week with steadily increasing temperatures (with cool to cold mornings every day).  Migration conditions were overall conducive for birds to move and loads of stuff moved through.  Sparrows, raptors and other late season migrants continue to show in good numbers and waterfowl is slowly continuing to increase in diversity.  Purple Finches have also arrived with multiple individuals heard at most every stop for the past week.  The weather looks to remain sunny and warm for a couple more days before more seasonable temps arrive.

Wilson recovering from surgery, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 21, 2024

Our boy Wilson had to have another surgery on Saturday to remove a few masses before they became too problematic for him.  We anxiously await the results to see if we are dealing with more cancer.  He is slowly recovering and hopefully he will be back to his old self soon.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS the last few nights

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, Belchertown, MA, Oct 15, 2024

Venus and Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, Belchertown, MA, Oct 15, 2024

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, Belchertown, MA, Oct 14, 2024

A fairly bright comet has graced the skies here the last few nights.  It is a comet that came from the Oort Cloud and has an 80,000 year cycle to get back here again.  It is visible in the western sky at sunset to the right of Venus.  The now full moon and some high clouds made getting photos a bit tough but the view was spectacular.  It will be around for a few more nights before it disappears as it heads back out away from earth...a cool astronomical event for sure.

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Amherst, MA, Oct 15, 2024

White throated Sparrow, Amherst, MA, Oct 15, 2024

Chipping Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 16, 2024

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 16, 2024

Migration has been fairly heavy with more late season migrants showing up (mainly sparrows and juncos plus some waterfowl as well as others).  The diversity continues to drop with each passing day although the numbers are still fairly high (especially for sparrows).  As fall moves along the chances of rarities continues to go up and I will certainly try my best to track down something noteworthy.

A cool end to the second week of October with loads of sparrows

 

Song Sparrow, Amherst, MA, Oct 14, 2024

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Amherst, MA, Oct 14, 2024

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Amherst, MA, Oct 14, 2024

Blue Jay, Amherst, MA, Oct 14, 2024

White throated Sparrow, Amherst, MA, Oct 14, 2024

Common Yellowthroat, Amherst, MA, Oct 14, 2024

Nashville Warbler, Amherst, MA, Oct 14, 2024

The second week of October ended with another damp, overcast and occasionally rainy morning.  Nonetheless it was not a downpour so I was out a bit in the morning before we had to take Wilson in for a check up.  I mainly concentrated on warblers and managed to find four species with the vast majority being Yellow rumped Warblers.  I also had a good show of sparrows with hundreds of individuals seen over the course of the morning.

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 14, 2024

Once the rain stopped and a bit before another cold front moved in, I headed over to Winsor Dam and had some luck with waterfowl including all three species of scoters (two of which were new for me this year...bringing me to 226 species for the year).  I also had the continued Common Goldeneye that seems to have reappeared after last being seen in mid August.

Yesterday was overall rainy and cold with temps in the 40's and I didn't get much birding in at all although the day was not a total bust as I finally caught up with the young Lesser Black backed Gull Ted had found several days before.  I tried for it before and failed to find it but figured with the crappy weather I would give it another try.  Although I got soaked in the rain and didn't get a photo of it I was happy to track it down finally on my third try.

Although the next couple days look to feature cool temps and windy conditions the weather should warm by the end of the week and we could then enjoy several days of fairly warm weather and sunny conditions...we shall see if that forecast holds true.