Purple Martin
It is still hot and humid with chances of rain. With two to three weeks to go before the autumn migration season, Walt Childs and I wanted to go birding, but didn't decide where to go until Walt stopped at my house to pick me up. We decided to go to the produce auction in Rockingham County where American Golden Plovers were seen last year. Perhaps we could spot an early migrant, and then drive up the nearby Reddish Knob. When we got to the produce auction site, the fields were full of tall corn. so we drove around the area for a while and saw 22 avain species, including a Purple Martin, and two Red-tailed Hawks that were perched high up on a couple of the tall power pylons.
Purple Martin
Purple Martin
Red-tailed Hawks
Eastern Meadowlark
Song Sparrow
The drive up Briery Brach Road on Reddish Knob was fairly quiet, and the skies were starting to get dark. We saw a few Chipping Sparrows and American Goldfinches, and heard a few Eastern Towhees. When we got to the four road intersection to look for Red Crossbills, all we saw there were a pair of Goldfinches and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
We decided to walk up FR 85 for a short hike in the direction away from the road to the summit, and on the way back just above the intersection, we heard Black-capped Chickadees and saw a lot of activity in the dense vegetation.
Black-capped Chickadee
We saw a mixed flock of five warbler species and a couple of Blue-headed Vireos. Most of the birds appeared to be either females or first year birds. It was a struggle to "dig" most of them out of the dense vegetation to get some photos.
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Canada Warbler
Canada Warbler
Canada Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
We continued up most of the way to the summit, and added a few more avian species. On the way down, we stopped again at the four road intersection, but only a few butterflies. We did add another 17 avian species on Reddish Knob to the day's trip list.
Cedar Waxwing
Monarch Butterfly
Walt and I decided to make a short stop at Nazarene Wetlands on the way back to Nellysford. We added 5 more avian species there to make 44 avian species for the day, but did not see or hear the Soras or Virginia Rails. And the summer Red-winged Blackbirds that are always there were gone. We saw a male and a female Mallard at the far end of the pond. The male had unusual coloring and was huge compared with the female. I know that Mallards will mate with almost any bird, and wonder what combination produced this result.
Mallards
Mallards
Mallards and Canada Goose