February has now about come to an end and I will take a look at what I was able to find the last several days. On Thursday the 22nd I stopped by Arcadia after another long shift at work and had some waterfowl, a partially leucistic American Robin, some close looks at Cedar Waxwings and a couple Yellow rumped Warblers. A couple other stops during the morning were fairly quiet with the most notable species being more Red Crossbills.
After work on a windy Saturday morning I checked a few spots on my way home with several species of waterfowl along the river on my first stop. A field in Hadley featured a very large mixed flock (8000+) of Common Grackles, Red winged Blackbirds, European Starlings and Brown headed Cowbirds with the majority being Common Grackles. I tried to find a Yellow headed Blackbird in among the hordes without any luck. Other notables around the field included my first Killdeer of the year, an Eastern Meadowlark, five Black Vultures and 28 Turkey Vultures. A stop off at Winsor Dam failed to turn up either Pine Warblers or the recently relocated Say's Phoebe with the most notable sighting being a couple Red Crossbills.
Sunday I had just a short period of time in the morning before having to travel up the the Berkshires for some family obligations. It was one of the coldest mornings of the winter season with a temp around 10. I decided to my time at Quabbin with a visit to Quabbin Park and then Winsor Dam. Quabbin Park featured a Common Loon, five Red Crossbills and a couple Eastern Towhees. Winsor Dam had more loons and Red Crossbills plus five Pine Warblers.
Monday was another sunny day with a cool start, although not as cold as the previous day. It warmed up nicely by the end of the day with highs in the low/mid 50's. The big story for Monday was Pine Warblers with at least eleven at three different spots in Belchertown with seven at Winsor Dam, one at Lake Wallace and three at a cemetery in Belchertown. I can't understate how unusual it is to have any Pine Warblers in the area in the winter, much less double digit counts. The Say's Phoebe also made its presence known again at the dam and I added a Eastern Phoebe at Lake Wallace, making it a two phoebe day. I also added three Chipping Sparrows for the day. More on the Pine Warblers for the day at the following link.
On Tuesday I headed out to check a few spots along the river in Hadley and South Hadley for possible Yellow rumped Warblers and found none. There were other birds around for sure and eventually the temps reached a record breaking high around 60...very nice for late February. I then headed back over to Winsor Dam where I had several notable species (the Say's Phoebe, Pine Warblers, Red Crossbills and a couple Common Loons). Most other stops didn't feature anything too unusual.
My last free day to bird for the month was today and it was a rainy, windy and warm day to start and I stayed close to home with multiple visits to Winsor Dam where I had some waterfowl brought in by the weather including a female Northern Shoveler flying past with some Mallards and a dozen Common Goldeneyes that put on some nice displaying. The Say's Phoebe, Pine Warblers and Red Crossbills also continued to show at the dam.
I ended the month with a total of 96 species, which is above a typical February here and is the third highest total I have had for a February in the county...my best was 2022 with 108 species and second best was 2021 with 97 species.
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