MA - October third week

Pileated Woodpecker - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 13th, 2019.

Relatively common throughout Franklin County but never taken for granted, Pileated Woodpeckers have been 

active and visible at many locations in October. 

It's been a steady week of migration and falling leaves. North Cross Road in Gill has featured strong numbers of Hermit Thrushes on most mornings with 7 - 15 birds calling from the roadsides, sometimes foraging on the road itself before traffic starts in earnest around 7am. Yellow-rumped Warblers continue to migrate south-west in good numbers with 20 - 45 birds on most mornings around sunrise. Most other warblers, perhaps as expected, have become extremely few and far between but Brian Kane had a Nashville Warbler in his Sunderland yard on the 18th. It's been a decent week for Rusty Blackbirds with one heading south over Mill Village Road, Deerfield on the 18th and 4 over North Cross Road on the 19th.

Rusty Blackbird - migrant heading south over Mill Village Road, Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 18th, 2018.

Least Sandpiper - Hells Kitchen, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 11th, 2019.

Very probably the same individual bird that's been lingering here from the beginning of October through to the 21st at least.

Shorebirds continued to have a patchy, irregular presence at Hell's Kitchen in Northfield but patient birders have been rewarded with Solitary Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper and up to 5 Pectoral Sandpipers through to the 21st. And a personal highlight for me was two American Woodcocks seen 'chittering' over North Cross Road, Gill early on the 18th. A Pectoral Sandpiper also touched down at Caldwell Road sod fields during the storm of the 17th when it was the only shorebird present there.

Savannah Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 13th, 2019.

Sparrows continued to feature and perhaps increase in number with several pronounced 'waves' of Song, Savannah, Chipping, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows this week. At least 160 Savannah Sparrows were present in the Mill Village Road fields south of Historic Deerfield on the 17th, which also happened to be the last date on which the Le Conte's Sparrow was seen. The Deerfield Meadows also produced over 21 White-crowned Sparrows on the 19th, 18 of which were in the North Meadows when there was also an Eastern Meadowlark close by (David Sibley). Still at the Deerfield Meadows, single Field Sparrows and up to three Vesper Sparrows have been found fairly consistently amid the hordes of Savannah and Song Sparrows.

Le Conte's Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 17th, 2019.

White-throated Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 17th, 2019.

Lincoln's Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 17th, 2019.

Vesper Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 17th, 2019.