Windy end to the month with some waterfowl the last few days

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 31, 2025

Canada Geese, Rail Trail, Amherst, MA, Oct 31, 2025

Black capped Chickadee, Wentworth Farm Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 31, 2025

Wilson ready for Halloween, Belchertown, MA, Oct 31, 2025

Black Scoter, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 30, 2025

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 30, 2025

Red breasted Mergansers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 29, 2025

Horned Grebes, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 29, 2025

October has now come to an end and the weather continues to cool and feel more and more like later fall.  After a windy and rainy overnight today continued with the wind and it looks to just get stronger as it switches from southerly to westerly winds through the weekend.  Waterfowl was in short supply today but I had a great morning at Winsor Dam on the 29th with nine species including five that were new for the month.  I suspect there will be a big influx of waterfowl at some point either this weekend or early next week.  We are now entering the prime time for rarities to show up in the area moving through November and hopefully this year will bring some good stuff.  Diversity among passerines continues to drop with each passing day.  It was about an average October for me with 141 species in the county.  

Black Scoters this morning

Black Scoters, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 27, 2025

Black Scoters, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 27, 2025

Looking northwest from Hank's Meadow, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 27, 2025

Black Scoter, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 27, 2025

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 27, 2025

After looking for them for the last week plus I finally found some Black Scoters this morning at Quabbin and with them I have seen the last mostly guaranteed species for the year.  Any new species going forward will have to be some degree of rarity through the end of the year.  I now stand at 240 species in Hampshire County which is my second highest total YTD behind 2021 when I had 246 at this point and that year ended up being my highest with 249 species.  I caught up with the first Black Scoters of the morning in Quabbin Park at Hank's Meadow and got to watch an odd interaction of the scoters with a few Ring billed Gulls.  The scoters were in a tight group and milling around in typical scoter fashion with no active diving and fishing.  As I watched the group a few Ring billed Gulls appeared and repeatedly dove at the scoters forcing them to dive below the water.  They continued this for several minutes before the scoters finally got tired of it and took off.  The gulls were not trying to steal any fish the scoters were finding as the scoters were not hunting so no idea why the gulls kept harassing them.  Birds always surprise you with new behavior. 

A brief update on Hurricane Melissa that is now a Cat 5 storm with 175 MPH winds.  It is forecast to maintain nearly this strength as it turns northeast and makes landfall in central Jamaica.  The amount of rain and wind will be catastrophic to the island and it will take years for the island to fully recover.  Hopefully the impacts to both the birds and people will be as minimal as possible but this storm is going to be hugely impactful.

Another birding program completed, closing of the water feature, a dangerous storm in the Caribbean and some late species

Black throated Green Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 24, 2025

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 23, 2025

White throated Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 23, 2025

Swamp Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 23, 2025

Savannah Sparrow, Aqua Vitae Road, Hadley, MA, Oct 23, 2025

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 22, 2025

Common Loons, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 22, 2025

White throated Sparrow, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 17, 2025

Nothing too noteworthy for species the last few days as we continue into the fourth week of October and the weather continues to cool down (although I have had a few late species).  I did complete my second presentation to a birding group in the last two weeks with a program for the bird club at Smith College last night on "Birding in the late fall and winter in the valley".  This follows my program at the Hampshire Bird Club (Endemic Warblers of the Caribbean) on the 14th.  I have actually really enjoyed putting together programs and presenting them.  They have been well received and well attended and I look forward to doing more in the future. 

The forecast shows northerly winds for the next few days with cooling temps before the arrival of some rain to end out the month of October and I suspect this will push in some late fall waterfowl. Elsewhere in the world a tropical system (currently a TS named Melissa) sits in the Caribbean south of Jamaica and is likely to strengthen into a major hurricane but move very little for days and will be devastating to Jamacia, Haiti and likely Cuba with high winds, extremely heavy rain and storm surge.  Not a good scenario for wildlife or people in the above mentioned areas. 

I also closed up the water feature at the house today as winter closes in.  The last capture on the camera was a White throated Sparrow which seems an appropriate species to end with.

The third week of October

Nashville Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 21, 2025

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Amherst, MA, Oct 21, 2025

Swamp Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 21, 2025

Song Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 21, 2025

Common Loons, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 20, 2025

Winsor Dam, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 20, 2025

Tennessee Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 19, 2025

 

Blue Jay, Belchertown, MA, Oct 19, 2025

 

House Wren, Amherst, MA, Oct 19, 2025

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Amherst, MA, Oct 19, 2025

White crowned Sparrow, Amherst, MA, Oct 19, 2025

Tennessee Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 17, 2025

Orange crowned Warbler, Amherst, MA, Oct 17, 2025

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 16, 2025

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 15, 2025

The last week has seen more great migration conditions early on and then a bit of a warm up and some rain to end the time period.  Warbler migration is largely over beyond the late season migrants although I did have a very good day yesterday with a total of eight species of warblers (quite good for this late in the month this year given all the great migration conditions).  Sparrows continue to arrive in numbers with a great selection of species around.  Waterfowl numbers and diversity have been on the low side so far although I expect that will change with the arrival of cooler weather into the four week of November.  Purple Finches and Pine Siskins continue to increase in number and will hopefully be just the vanguard of irruptive species to arrive this year...time will tell.  I'm a bit behind for the month as waterfowl has not really shown up in numbers and I have concentrated on finding late warblers...I currently stand at 125 species, which is my lowest count at this point in October since 2017.  I also presented a program at the Hampshire Bird Club on the evening of the 14th and it was apparently well received and had the biggest crowd for a program at the club since Covid.  The topic was "Endemic Warblers of the Caribbean".  I have made a couple presentations recently and have found that I really enjoy doing them.

Nor'easter brings in...nothing (at least for me)

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 13, 2025

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 14, 2025

Eastern Bluebirds, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 14, 2025

Pine Warbler, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 14, 2025

Our first nor'easter of the season arrived Sunday night and the effects continued through today with slowly diminishing winds out of the northeast and occasional showers and drizzle.  I had high hopes the winds would bring in something unusual (think odd gulls or perhaps some unusual waterfowl) but despite lots of checking over the last two days at Winsor Dam and a few other nearby areas I failed to find anything storm related at all.  You never know with storms like these so you have to go and try...its the only way to know for sure if something unusual is indeed around.  The most interesting sighting at the dam over the couple days was a mixed flock of passerines made up mainly of various sparrow species plus a group of Eastern Bluebirds and a Pine Warbler...with any luck this group will overwinter again.  Waterfowl was nearly non existent with just some Common Loons, a couple each of Mallards and American Black Ducks and a flock of up to 78 Canada Geese that would occasionally make an appearance.  The only gulls around were Ring billed Gulls and a single young American Herring Gull.  Proving that the storm did bring some great birds nearby Ted found a group of four Common Eider at Gate 35 at Quabbin (on the Franklin County/Worcester County border).  Common Eider is abundant on the coast but extremely unusual inland.  I have just one Common Eider in the county and that was one I found at Winsor Dam on November 9, 2022 and that was only the third county record ever.  Another cold front coming in Wednesday will bring in colder air and strong winds out of the north and northwest for a couple of days so that may result in some waterfowl showing up.

Another addition to my Hampshire County list today

Nelson's Sparrow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 12, 2025

Nelson's Sparrow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 12, 2025

Nelson's Sparrow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 12, 2025

Nelson's Sparrow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 12, 2025

Cackling Goose/Canada Goose with group of Canada Geese (2nd from right), East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 12, 2025

Cackling Goose/Canada Goose with group of Canada Geese (2nd from right), East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 12, 2025

White crowned Sparrow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 12, 2025

Despite the impending arrival of a nor'easter today the birding was fantastic and I managed to add a new species to my Hampshire County list, bringing the total species I have seen in the county to 310.  I was out birding in the Ware area (more on that below) and was on my way to another spot in Belchertown when I got a text from Ted saying he found an unusual sparrow in Northampton.  Normally I would stop my birding and go chasing a rarity unless it is a rare warbler or a new species for me in the county and with the sparrow being a potential new species for me I made my way over after dropping some items at the house.  I then made the ride over and found Ted and Scott at the location but without any sightings of the sparrow.  The species is very tough to get looks at as it stays hidden most of the time and is more likely to move through the grasses like a mouse instead of flying to a new location.  We walked around the area for nearly an hour before we flushed it a couple times where it would fly a short distance and then settle back down out of sight.  I did see it scurrying through the grasses once but otherwise the bird stayed hidden from view most of the time.  During our search for the bird we also had a Nelson's Sparrow pop up and land briefly at the edge of the corn and I got a few marginal photos.  Two rare sparrows in one spot was really cool to see.  The area is in a private area of the meadows and for that reason I will not be reporting it right away to eBird and will not include specific locations.  The sparrow was the third new species I have added to my Hampshire County list so far this year with the two others being a White Ibis and a Stilt Sandpiper.

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Rail trail, Ware, MA, Oct 12, 2025

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Rail trail, Ware, MA, Oct 12, 2025

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Rail trail, Ware, MA, Oct 12, 2025

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 12, 2025

Before making the drive over to Northampton I was out early to try to catch up with some warblers before the weather got too windy.  I checked out the rail trail in Ware and I had a dozen species of warblers.  I also made a few stops at Winsor Dam looking to see if any waterfowl got blown in by the northeast wind but no luck.  If I had not heard about the sparrow in Northampton I'm sure I could have turned up more warblers.