Eastern Phoebe
Walt Childs and I did some birding fairly close to our homes, but even though we ended up with 31 avian species, it wasn't "birdy" anywhere we went.
We started out this morning on the Rockfish Valley Trail, and saw 18 species there. An Eastern Phoebe was all fluffed up and perched on a tree branch, and it looked huge! Best bird there was a White-eyed Vireo, but we only heard it.
Eastern Phoebe
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Monarch Butterfly
Neither of us had been to the Piney River Depot of the Blue Ridge Railway. This old rail line was converted several years ago to a hiking/biking trail. We hiked about one mile in and back to the depot and saw eight additional species there. Best bird was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and I photographed a bird in flight that looked to be a Great Crested Flycatcher.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
American Kestrel
Great Crested Flycatcher
We took route 56 up past Crabtree Falls to the parkway, and stopped at a few places along the way to the northern end of the parkway. It was very quiet, but we did add another five avian species to the day's list.
Scarlet Tanager
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar