The end of the fourth week of August brought with it some warm conditions with temps in the upper 80's with humid conditions. The weather looks to cool down to end out the month. Despite the heat and humidity I was out looking for migrants at the crack of dawn and spent my time mainly in Ware and had a decent selection of birds. Nothing too unusual but certainly more migrants moving through.
Today also marks a big anniversary in birding around here for me. It was 13 years ago today that Hurricane Irene moved through the area and dropped an incredible selection of birds at Winsor Dam. I managed two life birds, four state birds and seven Hampshire County birds (one of which, White tailed Tropicbird, was a first county record). Post covering the day at the following link: hurricane birds and the full eBird list for the day at the following link. There are some indications the hurricane season will heat up by the early part of September but for now all is quiet.
On Tuesday I spent another morning guiding a visiting birder from India (Bindhu) and we spent about an hour and a half along the rail trail in Amherst before going to nearby Silvio Conte NWR- Fort River in an attempt to find a fog free area. Although the fog was fairly thick along the rail trail we were still able to see well enough to get nearly 40 species. Silvio Conte NWR was still foggy but not as bad as the rail trail and we had a nice mixed flock that produced seven species of warblers plus a Philadelphia Vireo as well as other species. Once I dropped Bindhu I took a walk in the area of Harris Mountain and had a large mixed flock that contained 13 species of warblers. The fog never totally burned off until later morning and once it did it warmed into the low 80's.
I had some decent luck with birds on my way home from work on Monday morning with more early arriving warblers including Tennessee Warblers and Northern Parula at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River (plus loads of mosquitoes!). I also had a close encounter with a beautiful Black Bear. The afternoon on Monday brought the worst hailstorm I have ever had at the house with hail up to quarter size. It mounted up enough on the ground to look like snow...crazy.
On my way to work on Sunday the 25th I stopped at Silvio Conte NWR briefly and had my first Philadelphia Vireo of the year plus an early Blackpoll Warbler and yet another Tennessee Warbler.
After getting out of work on Saturday morning I went to Silvio Conte NWR in Hadley where I ran into Jack and we birded together for about an hour and a half. During our time checking the area we had an adult Black crowned Night Heron flush from a thicket, a couple Tennessee Warblers and a Northern Parula among 46 species total.
On my way to work on Friday morning I stopped briefly at the Honey Pot mainly looking for shorebirds and had just three species.
To start the fourth week of August I stayed in the Ware/southern Quabbin area and had a decent selection of species with highlights including two Mourning Warblers, Cape May Warbler and another Tennessee Warbler.
