A quick update on the duck boxes at the house. I went down along the brook today to check for Olive sided Flycatcher (and found one) and during my walk down the Hooded Merganser in duck box #2 flushed off the nest so I took the opportunity to check the box and found it still full of unhatched eggs. I then walked over to duck box #1 and yet again found no eggs (it has been a struggle to keep wasps out of the box this year and at this point it is certainly too late for a duck to use for breeding this year). I then went over to duck box #3 which I have not checked in weeks after finding a Hooded Merganser sitting on eggs a few weeks ago. When I opened the box I found it full of freshly hatched nestlings. They will likely leave the nest box tomorrow and with any luck the camera mounted at the base of the nest will capture the little ones leaving the nest. Oddly duck box #2 was the first one with an egg this year but the single egg seemed to be unviable with a crack in the shell and at some point the egg was removed from the box and a new set of eggs laid. No idea how the egg was removed as it is not something I have ever had happen before and certainly was not easy to accomplish.
Today would conclude our three days of overcast conditions, cooler temps with on and off rain (at least it was not as rainy as yesterday!). Today actually started off with some early sun but the clouds quickly built in and there was some sporadic light rain later in the day. We have now reached mid May which is usually the peak of migration and despite some less than stellar migration conditions the diversity of species is approaching their highest point for the spring. Most days exceed a hundred species now without a ton of effort. I spent lots of time outside today covering areas from Hadley to Amherst and then eventually back to Quabbin Park (sadly the roads are closed into the park for a least a week due to roadwork so lots of walking is involved to get to different spots). I was mainly after warblers and had a total of 24 species. The forecast shows warming temps over the next several days with some likely great migration conditions on at least a few nights. I will be out as much as possible tracking down everything I can.
Yesterday was mainly a rain out. Although with some south winds I had hopes of finding some grounded migrants I had no luck. I got a little walking in before the rain really moved in and had birds around in typical numbers. I made multiple checks of Winsor Dam during the morning without anything unusual noted. No rarities showed up in the county although a flock (nearly fifty individuals) of Brant in nearby Franklin County showed some unusual stuff did get forced down. Despite my birding being curtailed by the weather I did add my 19th warbler species in the yard with a Wilson's Warbler as the rain poured down.
On Monday I headed out before dawn after what had been the biggest night of migration for the spring. It was overcast and cool and some light rain started as the morning wore on. The amount of bird song was certainly less than I expected and a fair number of species I had for the day were silent and were only picked up as they moved through the still not quite leafed out trees. I started at Mitch's Way where I met up with Jack. We had some good stuff including an odd singing Blue winged Warbler, at least half a dozen Tennessee Warblers and a Canada Warbler singing at the tops of the trees. I then moved on to Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River as the intermittent rain continued. Again there was not as much song as I would expect after a great night of migration but there were birds around including an early Yellow bellied Flycatcher. My last stop before heading home was to the rail trail in Amherst where I had a number of species with the notables including an early Willow Flycatcher (getting me to 200 species in the county for the year), the Brewster's Warbler and the continued Blue winged Warbler with a black forehead. The rain continued to pick up and I had to wait it out a bit before taking Wilson for a wet walk. Once back home the rain had stopped and the sun even tried to poke through and when this happened the activity increased a lot and I had 51 species in the yard in just over ten minutes...not too bad...list here.
Although overall cooler than normal with mainly unfavorable winds there continues to be birds pushing in with multiple new species over the last several days. No other major rarities for the season that I have been able to track down. As you can tell from the photos it has been mainly about warblers...more on those here. Too many travels and sightings so the photos will have to tell part of the story. The next few days look to be unsettled with multiple bouts of rain and at least some favorable winds. This will hopefully entice a push of birds and the bouts of rain could ground some species that otherwise just fly right by. Could be some interesting few mornings.
