MA - Gill obs

It's been a bit of a 'whirlwind' since returning from California on September 24th..., so much so that I've had no time at all for local birding, a great shame because I can see and hear that the Gill area is full of birds. A weather event from Friday (Sep 29th) onwards seems to have deposited loads of birds in our local area. For example, there must have been 35-40 Yellow-rumped Warblers in a our yard alone on Sep 30th, with 50+ on our neighbor's property off Mountain Road on Oct 1st. With them have been plenty of Blackpoll Warblers including 10+ off Mountain Road on Oct 1st, plus the odd Black-and-White and Pine Warbler, and a calling Black-throated Blue this morning (Oct 2nd). Common Yellowthroats still seem to be plentiful in almost any patch of rank vegetation, and on Sep 30th two Indigo Buntings and a Northern Flicker joined the yellowthroats that usually frequent our compost pile.

The first major waves of sparrows appeared in late September after the first White-throated Sparrow on the 24th and multiple Swamp Sparrows in the yard from Sep 30th. By Oct 1st, some 300 White-throated Sparrows were swarming our neighbor's property off Mountain Road.

Red-breasted Nuthatches remain abundant in the Gill woodlands though perhaps slightly less vocal than they were back in August and early September. Even so, 15-20 must have been calling on our neighbor's property this morning (Oct 2nd).

Other odds n' ends for Gill in September/October included a late Louisiana Waterthrush in our yard on Sep 6th, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at Giving Tree School on Sep 24th, a calling Red Crossbill off Main Road on Sep 25th, a pair of Barred Owls audible from our yard on the evening of Sep 25th, several Blue-headed Vireos including one in our yard (Oct 2nd) and multiple Purple Finches including several in our yard, also on Oct 2nd.

JPS