Sightings grid
Observer: Paul Lauenstein
Observation Date: 5/5/26
Observation Time: 9:00 a.m.
Observation Location: Moose Hill Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary
Common Name: Yellow-rumped Warbler (a.k.a. Myrtle Warbler)
Scientific Name: Setophaga coronata
Comments: Flowering trees often attract birds, especially warblers that feed on the insects attracted by the blossoms.
The annual northward bird migration gets started in late April and continues through mid-May To keep track of the waves of migrating birds heading our way, check out the bird radar maps at https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/live-migration-maps/
Also, don’t leave home without the free app Merlin on your cell phone. It will tell you which birds are singing within earshot.
More Information: All About Birds
Observer: Paul Lauenstein
Observation Date: 5/6/23
Observation Time: 7:50 a.m.
Observation Location: Moose Hill Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary
Common Name: Yellow-rumped Warbler
Scientific Name: Setophaga coronata
Comments: The western sub-species of yellow-rumped warbler has a bright yellow throat. The eastern sub-species, also known as a myrtle warbler, has a white throat. I photographed this individual in one of the huge sugar maples near the barn on the Billings Loop trail.
More Information: All About Birds
Observer: Paul Lauenstein
Observation Date: 5/7/25
Observation Time: 8:15 a.m.
Observation Location: Moose Hill Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary
Common Name: Yellow-rumped Warbler
Scientific Name: Setophaga coronata
Comments: Flowering trees attract birds, especially those such as warblers that feed on the insects attracted by the blossoms.
The annual northward bird migration is in full swing and colorful warblers and other photogenic migrants are passing through Sharon. To keep track of the waves of migrating birds heading our way, check out the animated bird radar maps at https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/live-migration-maps/
Also, don’t leave home without the free app Merlin on your cell phone. It will tell you which birds are singing within earshot.
More Information: All About Birds
Observer: Paul Lauenstein
Observation Date: 5/13/15
Observation Time: 11:25 a.m.
Observation Location: Moose Hill Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary
Common Name: Yellow-rumped Warbler
Scientific Name: Setophaga coronata
Comments: I got these photos standing underneath a flowering crabapple tree. The blossoms attracted insects, which in turn attracted insectivorous warblers that needed fuel to continue their migration.
More Information: All About Birds
Observer: Paul Lauenstein
Observation Date: 5/8/23
Observation Time: 9:00 a.m.
Observation Location: Moose Hill Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary
Common Name: Yellow-rumped Warbler
Scientific Name: Setophaga coronata
Comments: The bird migration radar (https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/live-migration-maps/) showed a surge of migrating birds on the evening of May 7, so I was not surprised to see many migrating warblers at Moose Hill on the morning of May 8.
More Information: All About Birds
Observer: Bruce Lewis
Observation Date: 3/13/22
Observation Time: 4:00 p.m.
Observation Location: Moose Hill St. near TTOR’s Moose Hill Farm
Common Name: Yellow Spotted Salamander
Scientific Name: Ambystoma maculatum
Comments: It’s generally best not to handle amphibians, so I left it alone.
Salamanders typically do not emerge until “Big Night” – the first rainy night after the snow melts in late March. This specimen was crawling around while it was snowing.
More Information: animaldiversity.org
4Observer: Paul Lauenstein
Observation Date: 4/2/05
Observation Time: 9:00 p.m.
Observation Location: Moose Hill Street near Kendall Estate
Common Name: Yellow Spotted Salamander
Scientific Name: Ambystoma maculatum
Comments: It’s best not to handle salamanders because the salts and oils on your skin don’t do amphibians any good (mea culpa!). To see a variety of frog and salamander species, walk down Moose Hill Street on the first rainy night after the snow melts in late March. That’s when mole salamanders migrate from their their burrows to nearby wetlands to spawn.
More Information: animaldiversity.org
Observer: Scott Didham
Observation Date: 9/24/11
Observation Location: Mansfield St.
Common Name: Yellow-spotted salamander
Scientific Name: Ambystoma maculatum
More Information: Read about the salamander migration at Moose Hill in 2008.
Observer: Paul Lauenstein
Observation Date: 5/15/20
Observation Time: 8:35 a.m.
Observation Location: conservation land near Lakeview & Morse Sts.
Common Name: Yellow-throated vireo
Scientific Name: Vireo flavifrons
Comments: I did not realize what kind of bird I was photographing when I took this photo. A friend of mine who is an expert birder identified it from the photos.
More Information: All About Birds
Observer: Deborah Radovsky
Observation Date: 6/4/22
Observation Time: 7:30 a.m.
Observation Location: Moose Hill Audubon Sanctuary, in tree on edge of meadow, near Billings Barn.
Common Name: Yellow-throated vireo
Scientific Name: Vireo flavifrons
Comments: Not only does this bird have a bright yellow throat, it looks as if it’s wearing bright yellow spectacles.
While the Yellow-throated Vireo is associated with forest edge habitat, it actually requires large blocks of forest to breed successfully. Numbers decrease sharply in forests smaller than 250 acres (100 hectares) in the northeastern United States.
More Information: All About Birds
Observer: Paul Lauenstein
Observation Date: 5/20/20
Observation Time: 5:15 p.m.
Observation Location: under high tension wires across the street from Ward’s Berry Farm
Common Name: Yellow-washed metarranthis moth
Scientific Name: Metarranthis obfirmaria
Comments: I spotted this brown moth on the dirt road under the high tension wires. Moths typically have bigger antennae than butterflies. They can be hard to identify. I got help with identification of this specimen at Bugguide.net
More Information: North American Moth Photographers Group
