Blue-headed Vireo
Bright and sunny skies, combined with cool, crisp, and slightly breezy air, made for an excellent morning for going birding. I headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, skipping my usual route along Route 610 because of recent truck traffic, and birded from the cirque near mm. 7.5 to the Three Ridges Overlook at mm. 13. I ended up with 20 avian species, including 7 warbler and 3 vireo species. Dense ground vegetation and tree canopies made locating birds a challenge, but I managed to see all 7 warbler species and 2 of the vireo species. A Blue-headed Vireo seemed to have problems figuring out how to manage a large caterpillar that it caught.
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Indigo Bunting
Red-tailed Hawk
I saw a Scarlet Tanager that appears to have a red patch on its dark wing. The red patch is visible on multiple views, and does not appear to be its red body showing through its wing feathers.
Scarlet Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
The most common warbler species I found was Ovenbird, but most were heard-only birds. The warbler species that I saw most frequently this morning was Cerulean.
Ovenbird
Ovenbird
Black and White Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Immature male American Redstart getting its adult plumage
Immature male American Redstart getting its adult plumage
I was photographing a Worm-eating Warbler foraging in the dark and dense ground vegetation across the road from me on the parkway.
Worm-eating Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
All of a sudden, a female American Redstart flew from a nearby area, and I turned to photograph it.
Female American Redstart
When I turned my body back to re-locate the Worm-eating Warbler, it was only a few feet in front of me right in the middle of the parkway, feeding the bug it had just caught to an immature Worm-eating Warbler. As I raised my camera for a photo of this interaction, both of the Worm-eating Warblers flew past me into the dense ground cover. I didn't get that photo, but it was a fun outing.
Cerulean Warbler