November started off as October ended with record setting heat. I was out on the first after an overtime shift mainly looking for warblers and finding a couple species. I turned up a late Lincoln's Sparrow among more typical sparrows on the 2nd. It then cooled to more seasonable levels with a hard freeze on the night of the 3rd that finally did in the Pineapple Sage for the season. After work on the fourth I headed up to Great Pond and although I didn't find any late season warblers I did have a late Gray Catbird plus a decent selection of sparrows.
On Tuesday the 5th we started a few days of more above normal warmth with highs in the 70's. I was stuck fighting an ongoing brush fire all day at work on Tuesday so not much for birding that day although with the earlier sunrises thanks to the return to standard time, I was able to bird a little in Hadley before work and turned up a late Palm Warbler
After work I was out again on Wednesday morning and I headed to Arcadia where I mainly concentrated on the marsh and nearby areas as the meadows section is nearly devoid of birds as Mass Audubon has cut down virtually every square foot of fields that normally hold sparrows in fall and through the winter. For an organization that is supposed to be focused on birds their actions don't seem to support that...sad really. Thankfully the low water levels in the marsh supported a nice diversity of species with the most unusual being a Dunlin among the other shorebirds present. I also had half a dozen species of waterfowl. I made a couple other stops on my way home in search of late warblers but the windy conditions made it tough to track any down. A stop at Hickory Ridge in Amherst produced the continued gathering of vultures with at least two Black Vultures and 13 Turkey Vultures present.
I ended the first week of November once again trying to track down late warblers (plus looking for other stuff along the way). I failed completely to turn up any warblers unfortunately. The morning was far from a total bust as I turned up several new species for the month including some rarities including a Evening Grosbeak at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, a Bonaparte's Gull at Winsor Dam and a Spotted Sandpiper at Quabbin Park. It was another fairly warm day with early highs in the mid 60's before it started cooling down throughout the day follow a cold front passage.
As I end out the first week of November I have found a total of 94 species in Hampshire County so far, which puts me at my third highest total for the first week (behind 2020 with an amazing 111 species and 2022 with 97 species).
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