April ends with some rain

Blackburnian Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 30, 2026

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 30, 2026

Black and White Warbler, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 29, 2026

Song Sparrow, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 29, 2026

Wood Ducks, Belchertown Land trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, Apr 29, 2026

Wilson relaxing after a walk, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 29, 2026

Broad winged Hawk, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 28, 2026

Red breasted Mergansers, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 28, 2026

Purple Finch, KC Trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 28, 2026

White tailed Deer, Rail Trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 28, 2026

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 27, 2026

Field Sparrow, Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, Apr 27, 2026

April ended on a rather rainy note with rain in the morning and cool temps and then drizzle and overcast conditions for the remainder of the day.  I had hopes the rain would have downed some unusual species but no luck for me in finding any.  The previous few days were more pleasant with mainly sunny conditions and warmer temps although the winds were less than great for migration.  Nonetheless some birds continued to move into the area and each day featured the arrival of a few more species with no real big influx yet.  On Wednesday I did some guiding for a birder from India and we had a decent day with a few targets found for her.  Warblers have been slow to arrive in the typical numbers and diversity for the end of April although I did manage to add one more warbler species for the end of the year today despite the rain (more on warblers for April at the following post).  I found a total of 142 species in Hampshire County for the month which given the poor migration conditions recently and being away for just over a week in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona was quite good and fits in around average for the last ten years or so for me.  Now comes May and with it the big influx of migrants from the south moving north to breed for the summer.

A productive few days with both birds and mammals as fall migration continues

Bobcat, Rail Trail, Ware, MA, Sep 18, 2025

Prairie Warbler, Rail Trail, Ware, MA, Sep 18, 2025

Lincoln's Sparrow, Ware, MA, Sep 18, 2025

Connecticut Warbler habitat, Ware, MA, Sep 18, 2025

Ovenbird, Belchertown, MA, Sep 17, 2025

Black throated Blue Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 17, 2025

Northern Flicker, Belchertown, MA, Sep 17, 2025

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park,  MA, Sep 17, 2025

Common Yellowthroat, Wentworth Farm Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Sep 16, 2025

Sandhill Cranes, Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Sep 16, 2025

Black and White Warbler, Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Sep 16, 2025

    

Red eyed Vireo, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 16, 2025

Common Yellowthroat, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 15, 2025

Osprey, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 15, 2025

Broad winged Hawk, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 15, 2025

Northern House Wren, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 15, 2025

Northern Waterthrush, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 15, 2025

Barred Owl, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 15, 2025

Virginia Rail, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 15, 2025

The first few days of the third week of September have largely continued our sunny and pleasant weather with great migration conditions overall.  I have continued to concentrate on warblers and managed to find my second Connecticut Warbler of the fall this morning.  Another big highlight while out this morning was getting up close looks at a Bobcat that popped out on the trail and stayed put long enough for me to fire off a number of shots and get to admire it as it stared back at me.  It has been a good few days for mammals overall with several species beyond the Bobcat including a family of four Black Bears yesterday.  Yesterday I stayed fairly close to home in the morning and had a few pockets of birds and had my first Rusty Blackbirds of the fall.  In the afternoon I was over at Smith College to give a brief talk on eBird to a biology class there followed by a bird walk along the Mill River...hopefully the talk was well received and was not too boring!  On Tuesday I tried my luck over at Arcadia but due to poor bird management choices there it was quite quiet (they have mowed down almost all the weedy fields leaving very little sparrow habitat).  Nonetheless I still had some birds there including the continued pair of Sandhill Cranes plus my first Lincoln's Sparrows of fall plus another Philadelphia Vireo.  To start out the third week of the month I stayed close to home again and started my morning with a couple Virginia Rails at Lake Wallace and then added some other neat sightings including a good look at a Barred Owl at Quabbin Park and a number of raptor species migrating south. 

Four mornings at Arcadia at the peak of fall passerine migration (plus a few other stops along the way)

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Nashville Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Tennessee Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

American Redstart, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Eastern Towhee, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Eastern Phoebe, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Lincoln's Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Gray Catbird, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Scarlet Tanager, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Red shouldered Hawk, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Sunrise, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

Monarch, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2023

I spent the last four mornings at Arcadia taking advantage of good overnight migration conditions, beautiful mid September weather with cool nights and sunny days (except for today) and some time off.  My main focus was on tracking down warblers before many of the species disappear to the south for winter (birds are smarter than us in that respect!).  Much more on warblers for the four days can be found at the following link.  I did something similar last year too and it was interesting to see the difference from one year to another as well as one day to another.

On Wednesday I arrived to a cool and calm Arcadia with just a small amount of fog.  The activity slowly picked up after I arrived and I found a couple Cape May Warblers travelling together.  As I was trying to get some photos of them another bird popped up and it was a Connecticut Warbler!  The bird actually stayed in view for over a minute (an eternity for the species) and despite the low light levels I got some photos.  I then walked a few more miles and ran across a number of pockets of birds with a few mixed species flocks including some high counts of a number of warblers with double digit counts of Tennessee Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Northern Parula plus others and also had a couple of slightly late Yellow Warblers and my first 'yellow' Palm Warbler of the fall.  Non warbler highlights included Great crested Flycatcher, a couple Tree Swallows, three Swainson's Thrushes, almost a dozen Lincoln's Sparrows and five Scarlet Tanagers and others...check out the list linked above.  I had 84 species during my four and a half hours there and almost 90 by the end of the day after taking some walks with Wilson.

Nashville Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 21, 2023

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 21, 2023

Sandhill Cranes, Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Sep 21, 2023

Eastern Phoebe, Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Sep 21, 2023

 Gray Catbird, Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Sep 21, 2023

Northern Parula, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 21, 2023

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 21, 2023

Blackburnian Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 21, 2023

Bay breasted Warbler with extensive rufous coloration, Belchertown, MA, Sep 21, 2023

Black and White Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 21, 2023

Cape May Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 21, 2023

Thursday was an even cooler morning with temps starting off in the low 40's.  Activity was a bit slower compared to the previous day but it was still a very productive morning with a total of 70 species at Arcadia and a total of 91 for the entire day in the county.  I covered most of the same areas as the previous day but missed a couple spots and spent less time at Arcadia overall.  Highlights included the four Sandhill Cranes that have been in the area for several weeks, a continued Great Crested Flycatcher and a total of a dozen species of warblers including above typical numbers of Nashville Warbler and Tennessee Warblers as well as a late juvenile Yellow Warbler.  My next stop across the river at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River produced some slightly late Tree Swallows and a Bank Swallow, at least one Marsh Wren, a Connecticut Warbler and a flyover Dickcissel.  A final stop at a spot in Belchertown produced several Cape May Warblers and a Bay breasted Warbler with an extensive amount of rufous coloration remaining (even in areas there should not have been rufous even in a breeding plumage bird).

Orange crowned Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Cape May Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Tennessee Warbler and Northern Parula, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Red eyed Vireo, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Black throated Green Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Philadelphia Vireo, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Warbling Vireo, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Eastern Wood Pewee, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Downy Woodpecker, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Northern Harrier, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Song Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

Broad winged Hawks, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2023

My third morning at Arcadia featured another great showing of species with a big raptor highlight at the end of my time there...more on that spectacle at an earlier post: Big Broad winged Hawk flight.  One of the big highlights for me was finding not one, but two very early Orange crowned Warblers among a total of 15 species of warblers there....I missed it being my earliest date for Orange crowned Warbler in the county by a day and usually I don't find the warbler here until October.  Great numbers of Tennessee Warblers, Nashville Warblers, Cape May Warblers, Northern Parula and Chestnut sided Warblers continued (or increased) from previous mornings.  Other unusual/late species around included Least Flycatcher and Warbling Vireo plus above typical counts for a number of other species with a total species count for the morning there totaling 81 species (check out the eBird list linked above for totals and lots more photos).  A couple other stops later in the day when out with Wilson kicked the total for the day up to 88 species.

Sandhill Cranes, Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Sep 23, 2023

Black throated Blue Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 23, 2023

Tennessee Warblers, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 23, 2023

American Black Ducks, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 23, 2023

To end my mornings at Arcadia I met up with former valley birder Devin for a fruitless quest to finally find him a Connecticut Warbler in the county.  The cloudy, cool and breezy conditions did not help us at all.  Nonetheless we still had a decent morning and did bag him a new county bird with a view of the continued Sandhill Cranes.  As expected with the above mentioned weather conditions the activity was much reduced from previous mornings but we still had 69 species total with several counts that tripped the eBird filters but no real rarities beyond the cranes.  We had a lucky 13 species of warbler including my first Black throated Blue Warbler in the last few mornings.  The weather also made photography a bit difficult so not nearly as many photos as previous mornings.  I didn't have time to hit any other spots on my way home beyond very brief visits due to rain and other pending commitments.  

During my four mornings at Arcadia I found a total of 103 species (trip report link here) and when including my other stops during this time period I had 114 species (that trip report link here).  My best morning I got to 91 species and I'm sure with a little more effort and birding through the afternoon I could have broken the 100 species mark without too much difficulty showing that there is still some decent diversity around here through mid September.