Rufous Hummingbird, Amherst, MA, Apr 26, 2026
Rufous Hummingbird, Amherst, MA, Apr 26, 2026
Rufous Hummingbird, Amherst, MA, Apr 26, 2026
Rufous Hummingbird, Amherst, MA, Apr 26, 2026
Rufous Hummingbird, Amherst, MA, Apr 26, 2026
I took a brief break from my typical birding by stopping by Josh Rose's house in Amherst to hopefully catch a glimpse of a Rufous Hummingbird that showed up at his feeders a few days ago. He initially reported it as an early arriving female Ruby throated Hummingbird. The day after the report he contacted me with some slightly better photos that showed the bird was possibly a selasphorus species of some type (Rufous or Allen's Hummingbird being the most likely). His photos were not great so I stopped by a couple days ago to try to see the bird and get some photos however the bird never made an appearance. Josh continued to try to get some photos and eventually he got some better ones that clearly showed it was not a Ruby throated Hummingbird. He had a few people come by before I could get there today and Brian Z. got some great tail spread photos that confirmed the identification to Rufous Hummingbird. At this point Josh made the decision to release the sighting to the general birding public...a tough decision to make with a rarity that shows up in your yard in a crowded neighborhood. He let his neighbors know about the likely influx of birders and spelled out as well as possible the actions any interested birders should make if they wanted to try for this rarity to limited disruption to both his house and the general area. With all this in mind I decided to swing by briefly this morning before the hordes would inevitably descend. When I arrived Joe was already there as was another birder and quickly followed by a few more birders. I had a decent look at the feeder in the front yard from my car and after a wait of perhaps 15 minutes the hummingbird made a visit to the feeder and I got a few distant photos. I left not long after as to not be a pest to the neighborhood and free up a prime spot to view the bird for someone else. This is only second Rufous Hummingbird I have seen in Hampshire County with my first being one that visited a feeder at a private home (also in Amherst) back on October 20th, 2012 (when Ian, Jacob and Keenan were still college students). This western species is exceedingly rare in the county (and in all of western Massachusetts) and almost all other records pertain to individuals showing up in fall. Spring records for the state overall are quite rare. Other county records for the species in eBird include the one mentioned above in October of 2012, one in South Hadley in late October into early November 2005, one in Amherst from September-October 2002, multiple years of "Ruffie" overwintering at Tom Gagnon's residence in Northampton in the late 1990's and another in Northampton in September 1995. I'm certain there are some earlier records but I could not find any. In the end it is an exceedingly rare species in the county with spring records even more so.
Magnolia Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 26, 2026
Magnolia Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 26, 2026
Magnolia Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 26, 2026
Magnolia Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 26, 2026
Blue headed Vireo, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 26, 2026
Butterfly species, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 26, 2026
Other birding stops for the morning produced a variety of species including the continued record early Magnolia Warbler I found yesterday in Quabbin Park plus a noticeable increase in Blue headed Vireos at multiple locations. I also noticed that I recently submitted my 60,000th complete eBird list with a trip to Quabbin Gate 5 yesterday...a nice place to reach a milestone list.
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