Walt Childs and I headed west across the Blue Ridge to look for warblers and other migrating species. Our first stop was at Ridgeview Park in Waynesboro. It was very "birdy" there, but the only warblers we saw there were Yellow-rumped. We saw a male Northern Cardinal in the process of molting, and a female Red-bellied Woodpecker looking from her tree cavity nest.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Blue-headed Vireo
Northern Cardinal
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Our next stop was at the Augusta Springs Wetlands. This has never been a very good birding stop for me, and today was no exception. But we did get to see a pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers working on their nest.
Wood Duck
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
We drove part way up Hite Hollow Road, but the increased elevation soon proved to be too barren for birds this early in the spring. We did see and hear at least five Black-throated Green Warblers at lower elevations, but they stayed high up in the trees.
Black-throated Green Warbler
Our last stop of the day was in Swoope, and we went first to Smith Lake (private property with permission). Eastern Meadowlarks seemed to be in every field. While I was photographing a Spotted Sandpiper and a Solitary Sandpiper, a Greater Yellowlegs flew in. It look HUGE compared with the other two sandpipers.
Eastern Meadowlark
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpiper
We ended the trip with 43 avian species, but not a single hawk or kestrel.