Female Black-throated Blue Warbler; American Redstart; Ruby-crowned Kinglet
I got to the cirque (mm. 7.5) on the Blue Ridge Parkway at 9:30 this morning. The trees along the parkway were still in shadow. I heard a Common Yellowthroat in the brush where I had see one two days earlier, and got a quick look at a female Black-throated Blue Warbler. There was some avian activity far down the hill where the sunlight was illuminating the trees. I got some distant shots of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and what appears to be an American Redstart.
Female Black-throated Blue Warbler; American Redstart; Ruby-crowned Kinglet
By 10:00, there was so much weekend traffic on the parkway that I headed down to Route 610, where I saw three Black-throated Green Warblers, a male and another female Black-throated Blue Warbler, and a Pine Warbler, as well as a Scarlet Tanager and a few other species.
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Male Black-throated Blue Warbler
Female Black-throated Blue Warbler
Female Black-throated Blue Warbler
Pine Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
With only a few birds on Route 610, and so much traffic on the parkway, I decided to try my luck at the nearby Ridgeview Park in Waynesboro. I usually bird in the wooded areas shown in yellow on the image map below. But when I got to the park, there was lots of commotion from soccer matches on the fields. However, it wasn't too noisy in the wooded areas far from the fields.
Ridgeview Park
At one spot, I got a quick look at a Bay-breasted Warbler, and some photos of a Magnolia Warbler and a Tennessee Warbler, giving me 8 warbler species for the day.
Magnolia Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
As I continued my hike in the park, I saw quite a few non-warber species and another Magnolia Warbler.
Magnolia Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Carolina Wren
Tufted Titmouse
Downy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
I really wanted to look for warblers along the South River, but the soccer matches were much too nooisy, so I crossed the bridge to the other side of the park, and hiked along the river to the tennis courts. I've been birding in this park for more than 10 years, and never knew that there were wooded trails past the tennis courts and along the ball fields (green area on image map). If fact, as I hiked along the upper trail there, I saw a sign posted in a densely wooded area that read, "Bird Sanctuary (with the name of a person that I don't remember, and marked on the map with an asterisk). There weren't any trails in that sanctuary, but I could look at mid-tree level from the upper path along it. I didn't see any new species in this area, but now have another area to bird!