Warbler migration begins

Radar image of migration on Tue Aug 28 at 9:55pm (Hurricane Isaac visible near Louisiana)

Common Yellowthroat, Orchard Hill, Amherst, MA, Aug 29, 2012

Common Yellowthroat, Orchard Hill, Amherst, MA, Aug 29, 2012

Gray Catbird, Orchard Hill, Amherst, MA, Aug 29, 2012

Gray Catbird, Orchard Hill, Amherst, MA, Aug 29, 2012

On Tuesday night into Wednesday morning a large nocturnal movement of birds looks to have taken place with the radars lit up and lots of flight call heard as I stepped out in the evening to listen to what might be calling overhead.  I also spent just a few minutes with the scope watching the moon and had several birds fly past.  I included a radar image capture of migration.  Certainly just the start of what is to come this fall.  On Wednesday morning I got up predawn and headed over to UMASS to bird the area of Orchard Hill.  It started off a bit quiet with a handful of thrushes around including several Wood Thrush’s, a Veery and robins.  I spent just under two hours around the area and turned up some decent groups of mixed species.  I found a total of ten warbler species with the highlights being Wilson’s, Tennessee, Yellow, Nashville Warblers and at least five Northern Parula’s.  Other birds of note included five Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, several Northern Flickers, lots of Gray Catbirds, a Scarlet Tanager, a few Baltimore Orioles and three Purple Finches.  In the evening I made a brief trip over to Quabbin to check the area around Winsor Dam.  Nothing too unusual with no nighthawks seen at all.  A pair of Common Loons calling back and forth were the highlight.  I did have just over a dozen Common Nighthawks fly past the house with ten of those in one group moving southwest after 7pm.

Today I decided to try once again to find some shorebirds in the valley.  I stopped briefly at Metacomet Lake and the fog made viewing difficult.  I had a single Least Sandpiper there but nothing else.  I then headed over to Northampton and Hatfield.  The fog coming up from the river completely obscured any viewing in the fields here and despite much effort I completely struck out on shorebirds once again in this area.