Green Heron
Birding here in central Virginia has been poor for almost two weeks. The clockwise rotaion of a stalled high pressure area in the Atlantic Ocean has pushed ocean and Gulf of Mexico moisture up the east coast, and combined with storm fronts moving in from the midwest, has generated precipitation every day that ranges from misty drizzle to heavy thunderstorms. Hopefully, there will be a change in the weather pattern by this coming weekend. Breaks in the precipitation have yielded hot and muggy conditions in the valleys and fog in the mountains.
The rain and dark clouds cleared by 10 a.m. this morning, but with fog in the mountains and afternoon storms in the forecast, I hiked a bit here in Old Trail, where I saw 12 avian species.
Green Heron
Great Blue Heron
Orchard Orioles
Black Vulture
I then drove over to the nearby King Family Vineyards where I saw three Great Egrets in one of their ponds.
Great Egret
It looked like most of the fog was clearing from the mountains, so I headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Route 610. I saw a Turkey Vulture on the way there, and got onto the parkway at 11:00. I spent about 1-1/2 hours there, and added 12 more avian species including three warbler species: Cerulean, Worm-eating, and American Redstart, as well as a small hawk (Broad-winged?) and four Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Worm-eating Warbler
American Redstart
Ruby-throated Hummingbird