Central Virginia 9/8/17

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

It was a beautiful day to be out birding. Unfortunately, there were very few birds to be seen. Walt Childs and I drove to Hillandale Park in Harrisonburg where a good number of warblers had been seen by us and other birders during the past week or so. We saw a few woodland birds there, but not a single warbler.

Photo Unavailable
Eastern Wood-Pewee

Photo Unavailable
Red-bellied Woodpecker

We then went to Reddish Knob in the Allegheny Mountains along the Virginia/West Virginia border. This is almost always a great place to see warblers from late spring through mid-October. Once again, we saw very few birds. At one point, we saw a small flock of Black-capped Chickadees, Gray Catbirds, two Immature Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and a few warblers high up in some trees along the road. I was able to see and identify a couple of them.

Photo Unavailable
Black-capped Chickadee

Photo Unavailable
Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Photo Unavailable
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks

Photo Unavailable
Black-throated Green Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Tennessee Warbler

Closer to the summit, I saw an immature Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Photo Unavailable
Yellow-rumped Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Yellow-rumped Warbler

We stopped at the reservoir at the base of Reddish Knob and saw a few American Goldfinches, Indigo Buntings, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

Photo Unavailable
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

We stopped at a few ponds in the area, saw some Canada Geese, Killdeers, Mallards, and a Spotted Sandpiper, and then stopped at the King Family Vineyards to see if the Buff-breasted Sandpiper was still there, but only saw a distant Cooper's Hawk and a few more Killdeers.

Photo Unavailable
Cooper's Hawk


E-mail comments on this report

Return to blog page home