It has been a somewhat average start to August with widely variable weather including some humidity, heavy rain and then more fall like days with cool mornings. I got out at least a bit every morning and found a total of 126 species so far with the only somewhat unusual species being continued numbers of Red Crossbills in various locations, Grasshopper Sparrow, a slightly late Orchard Oriole and continued Blue Grosbeaks in Hadley. We are forecast to warm up again with a possible heat wave starting tomorrow and lasting into the weekend. I will get out early to beat the heat. On a bird related note the American Ornithological Society (AOS) is in the midst of having their annual conference and this year it is occurring at UMASS! Wish it was not so expensive to go as it would have been interesting to hear some of the talks and presentations.
