The last couple nights have featured the best migration of the spring so far with loads of birds arriving including some rarities. Yesterday I was guiding for a birder from India and we had a very productive morning. I birded a bit before I picked her up and then we started at the rail trail where we had a number of lifers for her and a few new species for me for the year here. It was certainly obvious an influx of species had occurred overnight. After about an hour and half along the rail trail we decided to head a bit south to Mitch's Way to look for more migrants and a Hooded Warbler. We successful found more migrant species and heard the Hooded Warbler. With the Hooded Warbler and an earlier Canada Warbler I ticked off two more species on my way to a warbler big year in the US.
As an indication of the influx I had three new warbler species at the water feature for the day.
Today was not as nice as yesterday with mainly overcast and breezy conditions until midday when rain got added to the mix for the rest of the day. Although a bit too windy at times I still got out to cover a few areas and caught up with a few good ones today including the continued Hooded Warbler (still not photogenic, the Brewster's Warbler, an unusually plumaged Blue winged Warbler, two new species of warbler in the county for the year (Tennessee Warbler and Wilson's Warbler) and a total of six new species for me in the county for the year. The main areas I hit for the morning before the rain included Mitch's Way, rail trail in Amherst and Herman Covey WMA.
The next few nights look to feature some good migration conditions with strong southerly winds and some warm temps. I expect a big influx of birds during the period before the weather turns less conducive for migration for multiple nights.
After a long ride home with Wilson that started before dawn on Monday we arrived home to a snow filled hellscape on Tuesday. Thankfully we missed the absolutely brutal cold of the weekend when it was below zero with wind chills at -30. The only silver lining was I still had some new species to try to find in Hampshire County for the year as I only had New Years Day to find stuff before I left to Florida. After spending most of the morning Wednesday cleaning up all the snow I eventually made it out to try to track down a Yellow rumped Warbler along the river and eventually I had a single flyover. I then spent some time trudging through a foot and a half of snow trying to track it down to get a photo without any luck...just ended up getting soaked. I also stopped by Winsor Dam and found the reservoir totally iced over...something that doesn't occur most years. Thursday we had to drive down to Tufts for an appointment for Wilson in the morning and the only birding I did was to stop down at a private residence where an Eastern Towhee is overwintering. I managed to get some good looks and marginal photos of the bird after a bit of looking (thanks Carol for allowing me to stop by). Friday was a very cold morning with a low near 10 but the winds from the last couple days had abated. My main focus for the morning would be trying to catch up with a Pine Warbler at a private residence in Williamsburg (which I did indeed catch up with). Before making it to see the Pine Warbler I was out the door well before dawn to chase down owls and hopefully get a look at a rocket launch headed to the International Space Station (I missed seeing that). Owls were around and I had a few species before hiking a bit in Williamsburg where I had at least three Red Crossbills flying over. Around eight I made it to the spot with the warbler and had the bird on a couple occasions coming into a mealworm feeder over the course of 45 minutes. I then headed east with stops at Arcadia where I had a couple Yellow rumped Warblers, the Coolidge Bridge where I had both species of scaup, three Ring necked Ducks, a couple Bufflehead and a possible Barrow's Goldeneye and then Aqua Vitae Road before going home to pick up Wilson for a walk. Once back home I had a couple Black Vultures flying over the house. By the end of the day I had found several new species for the year in the county and my count now stands at 82.
