MA - Dickcissel and MUCH more in Northfield

Dickcissel (first-winter) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. September 24th, 2018.

This morning I headed off to Northfield Meadows in pursuit of the Dickcissel found yesterday by Eric Huston. The morning felt raw with winds in the northern quarter and it was the first day of this autumn that I felt genuinely cold, something of a relief after September's protracted warm spell. Thanks to excellent directions from Josh Layfield it didn't take me too long to find the Dickcissel but it wasn't especially cooperative often remaining buried in the thickets for long periods. Since I was happy with the views I decided to press on and perhaps visit another site, but the meadows had more treats in store and three hours later I was still there tallying upwards of 50 species! The cold air was heavy with migrants, a very nice mix of visual migrants overhead with warblers and sparrows in the scrub and Sumac thickets.

Notable arrivals/movements included Purple Finch (19), White-throated Sparrow (35), Lincoln's Sparrow (16), Swamp Sparrow (25), Cape May Warbler (7), Blackpoll Warbler (15), Palm Warbler (26), and Yellow-rumped Warbler (18). Other species of interest included Red-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Waterthrush (2), Nashville Warbler, Wilson's Warbler and Yellow Warbler (2).

Cape May Warbler (first-winter) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. September 24th, 2018.

Cape May Warbler (adult) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. September 24th, 2018.

Nashville Warbler - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. September 24th, 2018.

Northern Waterthrush - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. September 24th, 2018.

Lincoln's Sparrow - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. September 24th, 2018.

The first small skeins of  southbound Canada Geese appeared today with a Northern Pintail leading out one of the flocks, just to add a touch of the bizarre - my first Pintail of the fall.

Northern Pintail - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. September 24th, 2018.