Blue Ridge Parkway, VA 9/25/2019

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

The weather was great for birding this morning, and overnight winds should have blown many migrating birds my way. Just after entering the parkway at mm. 0, two Tennessee Warblers flew across the parkway in front of my car, but I didn't stop to try to re-locate them. Route 610 was very quiet between mm. 2 and mm. 4, and I didn't hear any warblers when I got to the south end of the cirque (mm. 7.5). However, I did see two Swainson's Thrushes there, hear a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a Pileated Woodpecker, saw a Dark-eyed Junco and an American Goldfinch, and a Red-tailed Hawk flew from a perch when I got out of my car. Perhaps the hawk was why there weren't any warblers there?

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Swainson's Thrush

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Red-tailed Hawk

I saw a small (about a foot long) snake warming itself on the parkway, and I knew that there was a good chance it would be run over. I also saw its round pupils, meaning that it wasn't poisonous, and it was too small to bite through my boot, so I gently nudged it with my boot to the grass at the edge of the road. Well, this ungrateful critter coiled up and tried to bite my boot, and then made its way back to the parkway. I'm not sure, but I think that it was a very young Eastern Hognose. [update: young black ratsnake rather than hognose]

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Snake

I then headed south to my other favorite warbler site on the first 14 miles of the parkway - Hickory Springs Overlook at mm. 12. It was loaded with birds, including at least 8 warbler species, another Swainson's Thrush, either a Hairy or Downy Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, Red-eyed Vireos, and Eastern Towhees. A few of the warblers were close to the road, but most of them were distant and disappeared quickly in the trees.

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Eastern Towhee