Trip Highlights

Nine people showed to enjoy this morning’s walk. There were no migrants, but great views of Orchard Oriole and Willow Flycatchers. Photographers were busy!  Tim and Christine got a nice ones of the Orchard Oriole, and Christine also captured Willow Flycatcher, Great Blue Heron with a fish, Green Heron in the branches of a tree, and a stunning shot of our signature bird, the American Goldfinch. More photos of this trip on our Facebook members page!

No report from Tim yet, but MJTash captured some beautiful bird photos on the trip, Pileated Woodpecker, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Chestnut-sided Warbler and two beauties of Raven. More great photos by MJ on our Facebook members page!

Ten members gathered for the morning walk at Stebbins, with many interested in photography as well as birding.  We identified a total of 49 species. The following is the complete list of birds we identified:

Canada Goose -20
Rock Pigeon -2
Mourning Dove -6
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1
Virginia Rail -1
Great Blue Heron -1
Eastern Screech-Owl -1
Red-bellied Woodpecker -7
Downy Woodpecker -4
Eastern Wood-Pewee -1
Willow Flycatcher -2
Eastern Phoebe -1
Great Crested Flycatcher -3
Eastern Kingbird -1
Warbling Vireo -10
Red-eyed Vireo -3
Blue Jay -5
Black-capped Chickadee -12
Tufted Titmouse -2
Tree Swallow -5
Brown Creeper -3
Carolina Wren -4
European Starling -10
Gray Catbird -8
Eastern Bluebird -1
Wood Thrush -6
American Robin -12
House Finch -3
American Goldfinch -3
Chipping Sparrow -1
Song Sparrow -2
Swamp Sparrow -4
Baltimore Oriole -12
Brown-headed Cowbird -3
Common Grackle -3
Northern Waterthrush -4
Blue-winged Warbler -1
Black-and-white Warbler -1
Common Yellowthroat -12
American Redstart -8
Northern Parula -2
Magnolia Warbler -2
Yellow Warbler -12
Chestnut-sided Warbler -2
Canada Warbler -2
Wilson's Warbler -1
Scarlet Tanager -2
Northern Cardinal -4
Rose-breasted Grosbeak -8

Four joined in on the walk up the road and enjoyed 17 species of birds.  The prize warblers being the Cerulean and the Worm Eating, were not found, unfortunately.

We did see some beautiful Indigo Buntings and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.  A hummingbird was our first bird of the day, feeding on some flowers next to the sign in the parking lot.  The American Redstarts and the Red-eyed Vireos were plentiful!  We did see a Scarlet Tanager, however it was the female and not the male.  She’s still pretty though.  It was a sunny start at 55 degrees when we set out around 8:00 a.m., but it was getting hot when we ended close to 11:30. All in all a good day, but would have been even better had we seen our target species!

There were 17 teams and 33 observers out in Hampden County territories for the count held on May 14-15.  Thankfully, once again, the COVID-19 pandemic did not prevent we birders from doing our thing!  The weather was quite good for birding.  Friday evening temps were low 70s and winds were light, when not absolutely calm.  Saturday brought us more of the same, starting off pleasant with temps rising into the upper 70s by mid-day.  Together the teams recorded 140 species, which was just above average over the last ten years.

As is typical, most of the common species were near their recent or long-term average, but some were noticeably high.  There were several species whose totals were highest ever in our count history, including Common Merganser (21), Red-bellied Woodpecker (151), Pileated Woodpecker (22), Sapsucker (14, matching last year for record high), Carolina Wren (52, matching last year for record high), Eastern Bluebird (26), White-throated Sparrow (122, well past previous high record of 80 birds in 1984), Black Vulture (5), Marsh Wren (4), and Snowy Egret (2, likely a single bird seen by two different teams, however not otherwise counted since 1990).  Other high, but not record breaking, counts were Wood Duck (70), Virginia Rail (11, highest since 14 counted in 1995), Chipping Sparrow (143, highest since 154 counted in 1995), Savannah Sparrow (19), Swamp Sparrow (38), Rose-breasted Grosbeak (123), Sora (2, not seen since 2010), and Palm Warbler (1, not seen since 1996).  We added three species to the May Count records this year, Northern Shoveler (2), American Coot (1) and Tree Sparrow (1).

There were no notably low species counts this year, a big plus, however, we did have a few notable misses.  Those include Cooper’s Hawk, Great Black-backed Gull, Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Common Nighthawk, and Whip-poor-will.

Participants seemed to be in agreement that warbler numbers were low, but this year’s warbler counts were well within the average range for the May Count, excepting the migrants, which were low.

Click below to view or download complete count results.

2021 May Count Results