A hundred species so far for December in Hampshire County

Field Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Dec 18, 2025

Cedar Waxwing, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Dec 18, 2025

Swamp Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Dec 18, 2025

Hermit Thrush, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Dec 18, 2025

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Dec 18, 2025

Yellow rumped Warbler 'Audubon's', Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Dec 18, 2025

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Dec 18, 2025

Gray Catbird, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Dec 18, 2025

On a beautiful, sunny day I reached 100 species for the month of December today in Hampshire County with a Clay colored Sparrow and Red necked Grebe.  This now ties me for the second highest total I have ever had for December in the county and just two species behind my best ever.  With a week and a half left in the month I certainly have a chance to add new species although it is tougher and tougher as I have seen most of the expected species.  Sadly no photos of either the sparrow or the grebe for the day. However I did get photos of a number of notable species for the day including Ruby crowned Kinglet, Gray Catbird, Field Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow and both subspecies of Yellow rumped Warbler.  We look to have a bit of a warm up overnight into tomorrow with strong southerly winds and rain which hopefully will get rid of a lot of snow and ice.

Another birding program completed, closing of the water feature, a dangerous storm in the Caribbean and some late species

Black throated Green Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 24, 2025

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 23, 2025

White throated Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 23, 2025

Swamp Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 23, 2025

Savannah Sparrow, Aqua Vitae Road, Hadley, MA, Oct 23, 2025

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 22, 2025

Common Loons, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 22, 2025

White throated Sparrow, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 17, 2025

Nothing too noteworthy for species the last few days as we continue into the fourth week of October and the weather continues to cool down (although I have had a few late species).  I did complete my second presentation to a birding group in the last two weeks with a program for the bird club at Smith College last night on "Birding in the late fall and winter in the valley".  This follows my program at the Hampshire Bird Club (Endemic Warblers of the Caribbean) on the 14th.  I have actually really enjoyed putting together programs and presenting them.  They have been well received and well attended and I look forward to doing more in the future. 

The forecast shows northerly winds for the next few days with cooling temps before the arrival of some rain to end out the month of October and I suspect this will push in some late fall waterfowl. Elsewhere in the world a tropical system (currently a TS named Melissa) sits in the Caribbean south of Jamaica and is likely to strengthen into a major hurricane but move very little for days and will be devastating to Jamacia, Haiti and likely Cuba with high winds, extremely heavy rain and storm surge.  Not a good scenario for wildlife or people in the above mentioned areas. 

I also closed up the water feature at the house today as winter closes in.  The last capture on the camera was a White throated Sparrow which seems an appropriate species to end with.

The third week of October

Nashville Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 21, 2025

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Amherst, MA, Oct 21, 2025

Swamp Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 21, 2025

Song Sparrow, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 21, 2025

Common Loons, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 20, 2025

Winsor Dam, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 20, 2025

Tennessee Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 19, 2025

 

Blue Jay, Belchertown, MA, Oct 19, 2025

 

House Wren, Amherst, MA, Oct 19, 2025

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Amherst, MA, Oct 19, 2025

White crowned Sparrow, Amherst, MA, Oct 19, 2025

Tennessee Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 17, 2025

Orange crowned Warbler, Amherst, MA, Oct 17, 2025

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 16, 2025

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 15, 2025

The last week has seen more great migration conditions early on and then a bit of a warm up and some rain to end the time period.  Warbler migration is largely over beyond the late season migrants although I did have a very good day yesterday with a total of eight species of warblers (quite good for this late in the month this year given all the great migration conditions).  Sparrows continue to arrive in numbers with a great selection of species around.  Waterfowl numbers and diversity have been on the low side so far although I expect that will change with the arrival of cooler weather into the four week of November.  Purple Finches and Pine Siskins continue to increase in number and will hopefully be just the vanguard of irruptive species to arrive this year...time will tell.  I'm a bit behind for the month as waterfowl has not really shown up in numbers and I have concentrated on finding late warblers...I currently stand at 125 species, which is my lowest count at this point in October since 2017.  I also presented a program at the Hampshire Bird Club on the evening of the 14th and it was apparently well received and had the biggest crowd for a program at the club since Covid.  The topic was "Endemic Warblers of the Caribbean".  I have made a couple presentations recently and have found that I really enjoy doing them.

End of the first week of October

Savannah Sparrow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2025

Belchertown Land Trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, Oct 4, 2025, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2025

Palm Warbler 'yellow', East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2025

Green winged Teal with a Greater Yellowlegs, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2025

Nashville Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 4, 2025

Bay breasted Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 4, 2025

Eastern Wood Pewee, Belchertown, MA, Oct 4, 2025

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Belchertown, MA, Oct 4, 2025

Pale Tiger Moth caterpillar, Belchertown Land Trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, Oct 4, 2025

Orange crowned Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 5, 2025

Northern Parula, Belchertown, MA, Oct 5, 2025

Bobcat, Belchertown, MA, Oct 5, 2025

Slug Moth caterpillar (Red Cross button slug or an abbreviated button slug), Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 4, 2025

Swamp Sparrow, Aqua Vitae Rd, Hadley, MA, Oct 6, 2025

Lincoln's Sparrow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Oct 6, 2025

Common Yellowthroat, Wentworth Farm Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Oct 6, 2025

Song Sparrow, Eastern Towhee and White throated Sparrow, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 5, 2025

Black and White Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 7, 2025

Black throated Blue Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Oct 7, 2025

The first week of October ended sunny and warm as we enjoyed four days in a row with mostly sunny conditions and temperatures way above normal in the upper 70's into the low 80's...a last gasp of summer as we continue the long, cold slide toward the hell that is winter.  After great migration conditions for the first couple days of the month the last couple days have had less than favorable winds and there was not a big turnover of species.  I continued to concentrate on warblers and have found a number of unique individuals including the possible hybrid and an odd Black throated Blue Warbler mentioned in the previous link plus an oddly plumaged Yellow rumped Warbler.  I stayed mostly in the Pelham and Belchertown area for most of the days except yesterday when I spent multiple hours in Amherst and Hadley before an appointment.  The highlight by far yesterday was a brief look at a Common Gallinule along the rail trail in Amherst...a fairly rare species in the area with this one being just my ninth record in the county.  Today I finished out the first week fairly close to home with a decent selection of species although the early low clouds and breezy conditions made photography a bit of a struggle compared to the previous few days.  In addition to birds I have had some good luck with finding both mammals and a variety of caterpillars.

I will be presenting a program at the Hampshire Bird Club a week from today...the title of the program is "Endemic Warblers of the Caribbean".  The program is free and open to the public...more info at the following link.