I have been able to get out quite a bit during the first few days of September and have tracked down quite a few birds, including some continued rarities as well as newly arriving migrants. On the first I stayed around the south Quabbin and Belchertown area and among the highlights were a few Virginia Rails, Red Crossbill and a distant Red necked Phalarope at Winsor Dam. Also had three Yellow bellied Flycatchers (a migrant that can be tough to find sometimes) plus 17 species of warblers with the most unusual being multiple Cape May Warblers.
On the second I started off at the Holyoke Dam and had one of the two Sanderlings that have been there for several days plus a color banded Ring billed Gull. I sent the info out to the banding lab and they got back to me right away with the details of the bird. It was banded in June 2013 as an adult (so born in 2010 or earlier) in Varennes, Quebec just upriver from Montreal. I then worked north with stops off at Arcadia, Silvio Conte NWR and Hickory Ridge with the highlight of these stops being a slightly late Willow Flycatcher calling and seen at Arcadia. I added several other new species for the month but overall it was quite quiet as far as migrants were concerned. I also made a stop at Winsor Dam and was quite happy to see a Red necked Phalarope in a bit closer than the previous day (although still quite distant). Certainly an incursion of both Red Phalarope and Red necked Phalaropes into the area for the past few days...very cool given there were no storms forcing them down.
Today I stayed again in the Ware and Belchertown area and concentrated again on warblers with 19 species seen for the day including multiple new species for the month. I added a few non warblers for the month as well but nothing too unusual. So far for the month in Hampshire County I stand at 121 species which puts me well above average for the first three days of the month.
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