Gary and I took a trip up to Sky Meadow last week to look for Warblers. Sky Meadow is located in Belchertown, MA. and is owned by Les Campbell. The 25 acre Sky Meadow is surrounded by and is part of the Herman Covey Wildlife Management Area. Since we had not had much luck finding warblers around CT last week, we figured we might do better moving further north. Indeed we did find some, but overall I think peak migration has come and gone. I had to search long and hard to locate just a few species of warblers at Les’s place.

PINE WARBLER




BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER

I spent some time in a deep dark forest looking for warblers. The forest is so dark its like being in a cave. Even though the sun was out very little light gets to the forest floor. Although it was almost 80 at noon in the forest it was still damp and cool.

OVENBIRD


VEERY


RED EYED VIERO

So it’s peak warbler time. Migration is in full swing and these guys are moving in from southern parts. Of course they come north to breed. Some species do breed right here in CT but most of the others head to the Boreal forest in Maine and Canada. These guys are fun to shoot and most importantly you only get to see them once a year. This year migration is a bit extended because the bad weather, cool temps and rain tend to keep them from moving north. Doesn’t really matter to me, thats more opportunity to capture them!

YELLOW WARBLER



BLUE-WINGED WARBLER



CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER






BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER

We’ve had a couple of Rose Breasted Grosbeaks around here the last week or so and now a few females have joined the group.
In case you were not aware the female is not black at all like the male, its brown.

Did you know that Bluebirds are from the same family as the Robin?
Our bluebirds have babies now, and the male and female do nothing but hunt for food all the day light hours to bring to the brood. We try to help them along as best we can, especially on days when its raining or cool. It’s difficult for them to find insects or worms under those conditions. Although Meal Worms aren’t the best thing to live on or to raise your young on, sometimes it can mean the difference between the brood making it and perishing. Here are a few shots from the gloomy rainy day.