The end of the first week of October

Green Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2019

Rusty Blackbirds, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2019

White crowned Sparrows, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2019

Nashville Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2019

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2019

The first week of October ended with a cloudy and showery day but relatively warm (around 70) thanks to a strong southern wind.  I managed to get out the last few days and had some good stuff as we transition to fall.  I stopped at Arcadia after work on Saturday morning and although the morning featured our first widespread frost the sun made it bearable to be out.  I had a number of highlights including a large number of Wood Ducks, a late Green Heron, many sparrows of several species, a group of Rusty Blackbirds and nine species of warblers.

Blackpoll Warbler, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Oct 6, 2019

Blue headed Vireo, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Oct 6, 2019

Carolina Wren, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Oct 6, 2019

Carolina Wren, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Oct 6, 2019

Red tailed Hawk, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Oct 6, 2019

Gray Fox, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Oct 6, 2019

On Sunday morning I headed over to UMASS where I spent a few hours and turned up a couple American Woodcocks and a Barred Owl before dawn.  As the little bit of sun we had for the morning started warming things up the birds started getting active and I had notables including several each of Red eyed Vireo and Blue headed Vireo, three Ruby crowned Kinglets, seven species of warbler including a Cape May.  I also had a brief look at a Gray Fox as it moved through....likely the same individual I had there at the end of September.

Wild Turkey, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 7, 2019

Monday was warmest day for the month with a strong southerly wind and humidity and temps that reached to around 70 even without any sun at all.  I dodged a few showers during the couple hours I spent at Quabbin Park eventually finding 41 species with nothing too unusual but a couple of mixed flocks had decent diversity with a noticeable increase in both species of kinglets.

Overall the first week of the month has been productive with 110 species so far (although behind last years record setting pace where I had 120 by the first week).  Neotropic migrants continue to dwindle in numbers but there are some still around...more on warblers specifically at the following link.  Waterfowl numbers will start to increase as October moves along as will the chances of a wayward rarity finding its way to the area.

The first few days of October

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 1, 2019

Lincoln's Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 1, 2019

Scarlet Tanagers, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 1, 2019

Tennessee Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Oct 1, 2019

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2019

Blue headed Vireo, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2019

American Redstart, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2019

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2019

Cape May Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2019

Least Flycatcher, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2019

Red eyed Vireo, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 3, 2019

Northern Waterthrush, Belchertown Land Trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, Oct 3, 2019

The first few days of October have been quite changeable with the first being mainly overcast with a little rain before it eventually became sunny and more humid and warm.  The second was almost summer luck to start with temperatures well into the 70's and humid before a cold front moved in late in the day resulting in the third being overcast with occasional rain and temperatures in the 50's.  The northerly winds continue to move migrants with less and less in the way of warblers and other neotropic migrants around and a noticeable increase in sparrows.  On Tuesday I spent four hours at Arcadia where I had 70 species including a late Eastern Wood Pewee, two Philadelphia Vireos, seven species of sparrows, ten species of warblers, a couple Scarlet Tanagers and a flyover Dickcissel.  I also stopped briefly at  Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River and had a Connecticut Warbler in the same spot I had one the day before.  I only had a short time before work on the second so I cruised through the Honey Pot but didn't find anything too noteworthy.  After work today I stopped back down at Arcadia for a few hours and despite the overcast and occasional breeze I found sixty species with the highlights among them including a Least Flycatcher, several each of Blue headed and Red eyed Vireo, at least 290 Cedar Waxwings feeding on fruit near the old orchard, seven species of sparrows, a Cape May Warbler among eight species of warblers and there Scarlet Tanagers.  Later on in the morning while out for a walk with Wilson we found a late Northern Waterthrush.

The next several days look to be at or below average as far as temperatures go and a few chances of rain which may bring us the beginnings of a larger variety of waterfowl.

September wrap up

Connecticut Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 28, 2019

Marsh Wren, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 28, 2019

Eastern Wood Pewee, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 28, 2019

Swamp Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

Least Flycatcher, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

Snowy Egret with Great Egrets, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2019

Gray Fox, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Sep 21, 2019

Prairie Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 16, 2019

Yellow billed Cuckoo, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Sep 15, 2019

Clay colored Sparrow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 7, 2019

Now that September has come to an end I will take a quick look at what the month brought in.  Overall migration was good but did not feature as much variety or numbers as I expected but with so many days (and nights) of great migration conditions I think a lot of birds just moved past rapidly.  I found a total of 155 species for the month which just slightly above average but nine short of the record set last year when I had 164.  There were a number of highlights for the month including continued numbers of Great Egrets, a Snowy Egret, a number of late lingering flycatchers, a couple Marsh Wrens, an early Clay colored Sparrow (among ten species of sparrows), a Worm eating Warbler and seven Connecticut Warblers among 27 warbler species for the month and a Blue Grosbeak.  A more detailed look at warblers for the month (with loads of photos) can be found at September warblers.

Bobcat, Home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 26, 2019

Bobcat, Home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 26, 2019

White tailed Deer, Home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 23, 2019

Blackpoll Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 29, 2019

I also continue to catch both Bobcat and White tailed Deer on the game cameras at home.  The camera on the water feature has been very quiet for most of the month but did have a Blackpoll Warbler make a stop yesterday.

Morning stop at Arcadia

Swamp Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

House Wren, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

Song Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

Palm Warbler 'western', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

Gray Catbird, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

Least Flycatcher, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

Scarlet Tanager, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

Eastern Wood Pewee, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

White crowned Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 27, 2019

After getting out of work this morning I headed over to Arcadia where I spent the next couple hours scouring a few different areas and turned up 69 species (not bad for late September!).  Although it started off cool and a bit foggy the sun quickly burned through and the temperatures rapidly rose.  As we near the end of September the numbers of sparrow continue to increase with my first White crowned Sparrow of the season as well as larger numbers of a few other sparrows.  At the same time the number of warblers continue to drop but I still managed to find a dozen species of them including a brief look at a Connecticut Warbler and a late Yellow Warbler plus my first small groups of Yellow rumped Warblers.  The morning also included a few unusual flycatchers with a Least Flycatcher, two Eastern Wood Pewees and a Alder/Willow Flycatcher plus lots of Eastern Phoebes.  Other notables included seven Great Egrets continuing (no sign of the Snowy Egret), a Merlin hunting along the hedgerows, nearly 30 Gray Catbirds, at least three Scarlet Tanagers and decent numbers of Indigo Buntings.  The fruit field trees around the small field near the Old Orchard turned up several of the birds mentioned above and it really looks prime to turn up something late or lingering this fall...time will tell.

Small heron mystery solved...finally

Snowy Egret and Great Egret, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2019

Snowy Egret, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2019

Snowy Egret and Great Egrets, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2019

Great Egret and Great Blue Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2019

Savannah Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2019

Lincoln's Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2019

Ovenbird, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 22, 2019

The mystery of the exact species of the small heron species I have seen flyover around dawn at Arcadia on a few mornings over the last week has finally been solved. I went there again this morning specifically looking for the bird but the dense fog made seeing it seem far from likely. Nonetheless as I walked down one of the roads the small heron appeared out of the fog in the company of nine Great Egrets (a noteworthy number for this species in September). The entire group appeared to have settled down in the area of Ned’s Ditch once again. I noticed Derek was also in the area so I messaged him and we went in search of the group. Our first few spots we tried produced just some Great Blue Herons and Green Herons but we finally caught up with the group in a small pool where we finally identified the small heron...a Snowy Egret...a four heron/egret morning for us! The fog that was suppose to burn off early never did so until late in the morning but the birds were still spectacular with lots of other notable sightings including a singing Warbling Vireo, a noticeable increase sparrows with the most abundant being Savannah, Song and Lincoln’s Sparrows (nearly 20 Lincoln’s Sparrows was great), 13 species of warblers, three Scarlet Tanagers and a female Blue Grosbeak mixed in among the large numbers of Indigo Buntings. The morning produced at least 75 species just at Arcadia which is great for the third week of September.  We have also enjoyed a nice late summer/early fall warm up with temperatures into the mid 80's for the last couple days and another warm day forecast for tomorrow...probably the last string of 80+ degrees day around here for awhile.