Fall Series #3: Fannie Stebbins Wildlife Refuge in the Fall is Fantastic!

Hi everyone! I have been busy birding our local areas to track some of the fall migrants passing through Western Massachusetts. Fall migration is still in high gear according to eBird and BirdCast. Be sure you check out my last 2 fall blogs to see and hear lots of the birds you could be seeing now in our area! As I said, fall is a super time to try and see some new birds and some of your favorite spring migrants again! You will often see more birds in the fall because the birds born this spring are added to the numbers now moving through.

This blog is a bit of a tribute to my favorite local hotspot-Fannie Stebbins Wildlife Refuge in Longmeadow. I have been twice since my last blog and have seen some amazing birds and beautiful fall scenery. You can see which birds I saw by checking my eBird reports. My eBird info is on the both the Contact Me and Robin’s Nest pages. According to BirdCast, we are still experiencing peak migration in our area. The warblers moving through are Palm, Northern Parula, Blackpoll, Pine, Nashville, Tennessee, Black-throated Green and the Common Yellowthroat. You might also see a white-crowned Sparrow, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet or a Blue-headed Vireo. The Green Herons and Great Egrets are still moving through as well though they are rarer now. The Blue-winged Teals were in high numbers recently as well.

I have seen most of the listed migrating birds at Fannie Stebbins recently as well as lots of Green-winged Teals and Yellow-rumped Warblers. The Teals had fledglings with them, and I also got to check on the Mute Swan Fledglings. The Wood Ducks are in abundance as are the Great Blue Herons. There are Red-winged Blackbirds, Mallards, and Canada Geese EVERYWHERE now. I have seen Bald Eagles and many Red-tailed Hawks too. I got to see my first Greater Scaup on my last visit and the sandbar nearby was full of Ring-billed Gulls. The White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos are back now too!

The BirdCast seems to be pretty accurate still as far as I can see, though it should list Yellow-rumped Warblers as they are everywhere now! The link in my Resources page so you can check for yourselves to see what birds are forecasted to be moving through our area when. You can enter your city and see the number of different birds that are predicted to move through your own city or town overnight! I hope you can go out and see some of the beautiful fall birds and landscapes we are lucky enough to have here in Western Mass! I will post pictures of the some of the birds I have seen in my last 2 visits to Fannie as well as some pretty scenery.

As always, I appreciate ALL feedback! You can check out my spring migration blogs for lots of other pictures of warblers and other birds you could see migrating through now. I appreciate ALL my followers EVEN MORE! Please share this blog with friends and family. You can find my links to my social media pages on the Contact Me page. Those sights have some beautiful video footage of Fannie in the fall! I captured some rare straggler Great Egrets landing at sunset last week-SO BEAUTIFUL! I was also lucky enough to see a rainbow! Enjoy the pics! Thank you and talk soon, Robin.