I ended the third week of August by guiding a birder (Bindhu) from India for the morning. With the passage of a cold front and northerly winds I had high hopes migration would be good for some early fall migrants. The morning started off quite cool with lows in the upper 40's (giving it a very fall like feel). We started the morning checking for some shorebirds in Hadley and got a lifer for her there with some Semipalmated Plovers. We didn't have any luck with the Blue Grosbeaks there but we didn't spend much time looking as I wanted to get Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River as the sun started warming things up. Although it started off a bit slow there the warming temps started increasing activity as the morning wore on and we had some nice mixed flocks which included eleven species of warblers including multiple early arriving species including yet another Tennessee Warbler, a couple Bay breasted Warblers travelling together and a Wilson's Warbler. We also had several raptor species, a variety of flycatchers, at least one of the continued Sedge Wrens, tons of Gray Catbirds and many Ruby throated Hummingbirds and Rose breasted Grosbeaks among a total of 64 species. I added another Tennessee Warbler when I was for a walk with Wilson once I got home.
Yesterday I had a morning free from work and other commitments and spent it mainly in Ware and then Belchertown before heading home. It was a fairly productive morning although once the wind picked up mid morning it became increasingly difficult to track down birds.
After getting home from an overtime shift on Monday I had a nice movement on Common Nighthawks lazily moving past as the cold front and associated thunderstorms arrived. I had at least 165 in about ten minutes and there were likely many more that I missed before I headed outside to see if any nighthawks were moving. Link to eBird list: eBird list
I also checked the camera along the Jabish Brook at the house and captured a number of mammals including a family of Raccoons on multiple occasions plus a Black Bear and an Eastern Coyote. I got video of all of them and have attached them below.
Raccoons video: Raccoons
Black Bear video: Bear
Eastern Coyote video: Coyote
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