Walt Childs and I headed over to the Lickinghole Creek Trail and Reservoir this morning. Two Marsh Wrens have been reported there. We arrived at 9:30 and spent about two hours there, but did not see our target bird, even though we met two other birders on the trail whom we know, and they had heard and seen a Marsh Wren earlier in the morning.
But we did have a few highlights in the 36 species that we saw there. As soon as we started on the trail, about 20 feet from where we had parked, a Black-billed Cuckoo was sitting a few feet off the ground in a tree that was right in fron of us. And about an hour later, we saw a Yellow-billed Cuckoo - the first time I have seen both of these Cuckoo species in the same outing.
Black-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
The second highlight was seeing eight warbler species: Magnolia, Common Yellowthroat, Pine, Tennessee, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, Cape May, and one of my favorites - a Blue-winged Warbler.
Magnolia Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Here's photos of some of the other wildlife we saw there:
Red-winged Blackbird
Bald Eagle
Solitary Sandpiper
Northern Cardinal
Black Ratsnake
Late this afternoon I headed over to the Rockfish Valley Trail to see what might be there. In one hour I only saw 20 species, and I thought you might enjoy seeing a couple of the photos.
Palm Warbler
Eastern Wood-Pewee