The last few days of mid September

Palm Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 18, 2020        

                                             Lincoln's Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 18, 2020  

 Great Egrets, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 18, 2020  

After northerly winds last night I held out hope for some great arrivals but the forecast of light winds in the AM was way off and I arrived at Arcadia to a steady north wind that made finding birds very tough.  It even rained a bit for about 15 minutes.  I almost left but decided to stick it out in the hopes of finding something good.  The best I could come up with was a flock of ten Great Egrets that arrived around 7:30 along with some Great Blue Herons.  I searched through the flock fighting the wind in the hopes of an unusual egret but no luck (last year around this time I had a Snowy Egret arrive with a group of Great Egrets).  I also had at least three Swainson's Thrushes feeding together and a slightly late Yellow Warbler (among some nine species of warblers for the morning...not bad giving the conditions and the poor showing of warblers so far this fall). 

Red breasted Nuthatch, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 17, 2020

Philadelphia Vireos, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 17, 2020

                                                      Black Bear, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 17, 2020

On Thursday I stayed close to home with a few stops in Ware and Belchertown including a too short visit to Quabbin Park.  The density of Red breasted Nuthatches have increased and I'm sure with a little more time I would have gotten well into a triple digit count once again for the species.  Red Crossbills and Purple Finches were also around in decent numbers.  Beyond the birds I had a close encounter with a rather pissed off Black Bear at Quabbin Park. I also had at least two Eastern Whip Poor Wills still singing before dawn at Quabbin Park...getting late but still not my latest date ever for the species in the county which is Sep 25th.

                                                  Black bellied Plover, Hadley, MA, Sep 16, 2020

                                 Traill's Flycatcher, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 16, 2020

On Wednesday I started my morning at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River in the hopes of finding a Connecticut Warbler (I had no luck with that species).  I was joined for part of my time there by Sebastian.  Highlights for the morning there included a Traill's Flycatcher (Alder or Willow), a couple Philadelphia Vireos, a Veery and several Wood Thrushes and Northern Parulas.  After parting ways with Sebastian I made brief stops at the Honey Pot and then at the Huntington Road access to the CT river.  A scan at the river turned up a Black bellied Plover (that was apparently previously found by Mike L).  

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2020

                                        Palm Warbler 'western', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2020

                                              Yellow Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2020

                                        Swainson's Thrush, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2020

On the ides of September I spent a few hours in the morning at Arcadia where I had 59 species including my first White throated Sparrows and Palm Warblers of the season as well as the continued Dickcissel.  Overall it was rather slow considering the date and the good migration conditions.

Yet another update on the incredibly busy tropics which has already used all the typical names for tropical systems and is now into the Greek alphabet with both Alpha and Beta being named today.  The biggest immediate threat to land is major Hurricane Teddy which is forecast to make a very close approach to Bermuda and then head north and impact Atlantic Canada around Tuesday of next week.  TS Wilfred should exhaust itself well east of the Lesser Antilles.  Post tropical storm Alpha made landfall in Portugal today and TS Beta is in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and is forecast to reach hurricane strength by Monday and then meander around the gulf just off the south Texas coast as a tropical storm. There are two more areas that may develop in the next five days including an area around the Azores and another wave coming off of Africa.  A truly record setting tropical season that still has several weeks ahead of it.  To give an indication on how busy this season has been we are about six weeks ahead of 2005 as far as named storms go and that year was a record setting year for storms.

A cold morning with some good birds along the river

Red eyed Vireo, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Magnolia Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

House Wren, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Lincoln's Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Savannah Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

'Traill's' Flycatcher, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Lincoln's Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

White tailed Deer, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Dawn, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Blue winged Teal, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

With the calm (and cold...low 40's) conditions last night and the radar quite lively early on I figured there would be a decent movement of migrants (with hopefully some shorebirds among them).  I decided I would once again maximize my chances of finding interesting species by heading over along the river.  I started out at Arcadia where the marsh finally featured some exposed mudflat but sadly, no shorebirds feeding on them.  I had to be content to pick up a Blue winged Teal in among the other typical waterfowl.  I then spent a few hours in the Arcadia meadows and although I didn't have anythng too unusual I had some good species with decent numbers.  The sparrow numbers are already impressive...I can't wait to see what October will bring! I have included the full list below:

Arcadia

Canada Goose  4
Wood Duck  8
American Black Duck  1
Mallard  11
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid)  1
Blue-winged Teal  1     with other waterfowl at marsh
Great Blue Heron  2
Green Heron  1
Cooper's Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  2
Mourning Dove  3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  2
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Downy Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  1
Pileated Woodpecker  2
American Kestrel  1
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher)  1     Seen along trolley line, perhaps slight eye ring but not bold, silent bird, photographed
Eastern Phoebe  4
Blue-headed Vireo  2     singing
Red-eyed Vireo  6
Blue Jay  24
American Crow  9
Black-capped Chickadee  15
Tufted Titmouse  3
White-breasted Nuthatch  3
House Wren  9
Winter Wren  1
Carolina Wren  2
Eastern Bluebird  2
American Robin  2
Gray Catbird  31
Northern Mockingbird  1
Cedar Waxwing  14
Common Yellowthroat  15
American Redstart  4
Magnolia Warbler  2
Blackpoll Warbler  1
Black-throated Green Warbler  1
warbler sp.  4     flight calls
Eastern Towhee  1
Savannah Sparrow  17
Song Sparrow  74
Lincoln's Sparrow  7     nice showing of this species for mid september
White-throated Sparrow  1     singing partial song
Northern Cardinal  10
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  3
Indigo Bunting  9
Bobolink  22
Red-winged Blackbird  33
Common Grackle  1
Baltimore Oriole  2
American Goldfinch  6

Indigo Bunting, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 15, 2014

After Arcadia I made a brief visit to the Honey Pot scanning from the dike and then just a couple other fields.  No shorebirds around at all despite some decent looking fields.  A stop by the nearby Connecticut River turned up just a few shorebirds of three species (Spotted, Solitary and Least).  My final stop before heading home was to the Silvio Conte NWR but it too was fairly quiet with just a few pockets of birds.

Snapping Turtle, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Wilson pointing out another Snapping Turtle, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Wilson and I then went for a walk along the Jabish Canal where we found a group of recently hatched Snapping Turtles which Wilson seemed quite interested in and pointed out each new one to me.  We also had occasional small groups of Broad winged Hawks moving past, most quite high....probably another good day to be at a hawk watch site.

Tonight's forecast is for some rain to move in very late but before daybreak and continue through the early morning.  There is a chance of this rain grounding some migrant birds, especially shorebirds but this is far from certain....it will at least be worth a look in the morning.