More early arrivals (including a Purple Martin) with great migration conditions

 

 Purple Martin, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Apr 23, 2025

Black and White Warbler, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 23, 2025

Green Heron, Belchertown Land Trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, Apr 24, 2025

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 24, 2025

White throated Sparrow, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 25, 2025

The last few days have featured great migration conditions and the birds have responded with a decent influx of early arrivals.  This is certainly reflected in my totals for the month up until this point with a total of 144 species as of today (which is ten species ahead of my previous highest total at this point in the month).  I'm also well ahead of average for the year at this point with 167 species (my previous highest ytd total at this point was 159 in 2022).  All of this despite the fact that I have not been out as much as I would like to be due to some commitments at home.  It just shows how good the migration conditions have been lately.  Migration has slowed a bit today with rain and will be slow tomorrow as we have strong winds out of the north with cool temps.  After that we should see some better migration conditions to end the month and with any luck I will top my highest species count ever for April in the county (set last year with 156 species).  I had hoped that the rain that moved in overnight today would put down migrants but I had no luck tracking down any (although a Caspian Tern and some Brant did show up in Franklin County).  I also came across a continued banded Black capped Chickadee in the yard yesterday that I have not seen in weeks and was certainly happy to see it still around.  The chickadee was banded in 2021 and has lost the color band it had on its right leg so not 100% certain if it was banded in June or July of that year but I think it is the one banded in June (from what I can make out on the federal aluminum band).  No matter it is great to see it surviving in the yard for years.

Raccoon, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 24, 2025

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle' and Chipping Sparrow, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 24, 2025

Opossum, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 23, 2025

Gray Fox, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 23, 2025

Eastern Coyote, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 23, 2025

Wild Turkeys, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 4, 2025

The various game cameras around the yard continue to capture a variety of mammals and birds including Gray Fox, Eastern Coyote, Opossum, Raccoon and my first warbler of the year.