May - fourth week; Canada Warblers, Black Bears and a Sandhill Crane!

Canada Warbler (male) - Orchard Hill, Umass-Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. May 25th, 2020. 

The last week of May began with an especially notable arrival of Canada Warblers on the 25th, most of which appeared to be pure migrants with singles singing on Boyle Road, Gill, Smiarowski Road, Montague (Brian Kane and Noel Watkins) and Hilltop Farm, Deerfield (David Sibley). I say "especially notable' because Canada Warblers have been especially scarce this spring. As luck would have it, I found a further three Canada Warblers during a mid-morning visit to Orchard Hill at Umass-Amherst where I came across an unexpectedly good fall-out of northern passerines including; Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (1), Swainson's Thrush (3), Tennessee Warbler (11), Northern Parula (3), Magnolia Warbler (9), Bay-breasted Warbler (3), Blackpoll Warbler (6), Black-throated Green Warbler (12). In the evening a Common Nighthawk flew NNE over the Sunderland/Montague townline, one of the very few local nighthawks seen in migration this spring.

Magnolia Warbler (male) - Orchard Hill, Umass-Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. May 25th, 2020. 

Black-throated Blue Warbler (female) - Orchard Hill, Umass-Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. May 25th, 2020. 

Swainson's Thrush - Orchard Hill, Umass-Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. May 25th, 2020. 

Ovenbird - Orchard Hill, Umass-Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. May 25th, 2020. 

Bay-breasted Warbler - Orchard Hill, Umass-Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. May 25th, 2020. 

The following day (May 26th), saw two Blackpoll Warblers, an Alder Flycatcher and a new Canada Warbler all singing on North Cross Road, Gill and single Olive-sided Flycatchers at Hell's Kitchen, Northfield (Josh Layfield) and Hilltop Farm, Deerfield (David Sibley).


The 27th saw a further three Blackpoll Warblers along North Cross Road, Gill where there was also had a singing Black-billed Cuckoo but I think the highlight would have to be the discovery of one, possibly two, Grasshopper Sparrows at a new site in Deerfield.

Grasshopper Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. May 27th, 2020. 

Two Blackpoll Warblers were singing in our Northfield yard on the 28th and a singing Mourning Warbler was in Deerfield (David Sibley), the latter species seems to have been decidedly scarce this month, especially compared to last year.

The week also produced a number of daytime Black Bear sightings including singles in Gill on the 28th and Charlemont on the 31st, and this one neatly photographed by Brian Kane in his backyard in Sunderland on the 27th!

Black Bear - Sunderland, Franklin Co., MA. May 27th, 2020. 

Image appears courtesy of Brian Kane. 

As the month drew to a close, the air was full of the sounds of breeding species settling down for the season in Franklin County with especially an especially vocal Virginia Rail in Gill, and a distinct increase in singing Alder Flycatchers and Black-billed Cuckoos. The last day of the month was neatly rounded off by a stunning Sandhill Crane preening in a roadside marsh, quite oblivious to the Sunday traffic and attention that it was receiving from the passing public! 

Sandhill Crane - Ashfield, Franklin Co., MA. May 31st, 2020.

MA - local Olive-sided Flycatcher over the weekend

We recently had an immaculate weekend for weather with much cooler air, pleasant sunshine and very little humidity - perfect for bike riding! At the end of my ride on Saturday I had a really nice surprise in the form of an Olive-sided Flycatcher at Gill Elementary School. I'd just dismounted when I noticed a passerine atop a very large willow. It sallied out and returned to the same perch, much like an Olive-sided Fly would.......but since Gill was full of Cedar Waxwings, and had been for some time, I was a little guarded about getting too excited over what might turn out to be a juv Cedar Waxwing. Fortunately I had the camera in the car and rattled off a few shots before (and much to my surprise) the bird took off, headed south and never returned. As far as I'm aware, Olive-sided Flycatcher is no a longer a regular breeder in Massachusetts so this bird was a certain migrant, and slightly earlier than most.

Elsewhere in Gill and Turner's Falls, still lots of late bird song including Hermit Thrush and Winter Wrens singing from the hemlock woods, and the occasional Louisiana Waterthrush still singing in Gill. Fish Crows continue to feature in Turner's Falls around Unity Park and the residential areas south-east of there.

The Turner's Falls power canal has been relatively quiet but has had a lingering Great Egret for about a week, and four Double-crested Cormorants in the rain this morning.

Olive-sided Flycatcher - Gill Elementary School, Franklin Co., MA. August 8th, 2015.

Rather rare/scarce autumn migrant in Franklin County. 

Great Egret - Tuner Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. August 9th, 2015. 

 iphone shot taken during a family bike ride. 

Belted Kingfisher - Tuner Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. August 11th, 2015. 

Taken in today's deluge.

MA - Olive-sided Flycatchers and more 05/28

Gill - Yesterday (05/28) I once again had the pleasure of surveying our neighbor's property ('Blake Farm') to the SW of Mountain/Main Roads in Gill. Conditions were pleasant beginning with a cool 45 deg F start ranging through to the upper 60s by the time I finished just before noon. Perhaps the cooler start influenced bird behavior but it wasn't until after 09:00hrs that the tempo really began to pick up. Indeed, the most productive period was the last hour.

All images taken at 'Blake Farm' property, Gill, Franklin Co., MA on May 28th 2013

using a Canon Powershot G10. 

Alder Flycatcher

 

Chestnut-sided Warbler



Compared to my last visit on May 8th, species diversity was way up as might have been expected for late May. There was no strong evidence of any migration other than a couple of isolated species and there was a distinctly curious absence of some species that might have been expected such as Downy Woodpecker, Warbling Vireo, Wood Thrush, Magnolia Warbler and Least Flycatcher. On the upside, quite a few species had arrived since my last visit and were present in numbers: Alder Flycatcher (2 singing with nest building observed)), Great Crested Flycatcher (3), Eastern Wood-Pewee (4), Red-eyed Vireo (14), Gray Catbird (10), Chestnut-sided Warbler (8), Veery (10), Scarlet Tanager (5) and Indigo Bunting (4).

Black-and-white Warbler

 

 

Indigo Bunting

The most interesting species included Red-shouldered Hawk, singing Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos and a pair of Olive-sided Flycatchers. The latter were vocalizing in potentially suitable breeding habitat and the male responded aggressively to a few bursts of playback. Olive-sided Flycatchers are among the very latest of passerine migrants to pass through Massachusetts in spring, so with this in mind I'll be keeping a careful eye on this pair into June. However, they're also known to be "very uncommon" and localized breeders at higher elevations in the western part of the state so the potential would certainly seem to be there as the habitat looks ideal. The same habitat also has breeding White-throated Sparrow, Indigo Bunting and Eastern Towhee to mention just a few.

All in all, it was a tremendously successful survey recording over 60 species.

 

 

Olive-sided Flycatcher (three images above).

 

 

Habitat frequented by Olive-sided Flycatchers, Indigo Buntings,

Eastern Towhee and White-throated Sparrow among others.

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White-throated Sparrow

 

 

Chestnut-sided Warbler