MA - Tennessee Warbler - 10/26

Not really a birding day as such, but a few opportunities arose as the day evolved. Groff Park off Mill Lane in Amherst, beautiful as this time of year, had a few migrants filtering through most notably Hermit Thrush, (Eastern) Palm Warbler, and a fairly late Tennessee Warbler. The latter picked up on call as it flew in gave pretty good looks until I wanted to take a few digibin shots! Then it slipped away, but I was pleased with the views and see very October Tennessee Warblers in the 'valley'. Other birds of note included 6 Eastern Bluebirds and a fly-over American Pipit.

(Eastern) Palm Warbler - Groff Park, Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. October 26th, 2009. All the local Palm Warblers that I've managed to identify to race this month have been yellow or Eastern Palm (hypochrysea) much like this bird.

Tennessee Warbler - Groff Park, Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. October 26th, 2009. Not really identifable from these shaky digibin shots but showing a nice yellow wash around the face and upper breast fading towards a whitish lower belly and (importantly) white undertail coverts.

In late afternoon, a very brief look at Barton Cove from Riverview drive in Gill produced 3 Black Scoter, 2 American Wigeon and an adult Bald Eagle.