Walt Childs and I took advantage of some great weather and headed up to Reddish Knob to look for warblers and other high elevation avian species. We made a couple of quick stops in the Shenandoah Valley on the way there, but only saw a few species. Birding was a lot better as we made the ascent on Briery Branch Road. We stopped to get some good looks at a Pine Warbler.
Pine Warbler
Pine Warbler
We stopped at the four road intersection on the way up and back to look for Red Crossbills, but didn't see any. We did see several species there, including a couple of Black-throated Blue Warblers (no photos).
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
American Goldfinch
Cedar Waxwing
Red-tailed Hawk
A short distance up from the intersection we stopped again to watch a male and a female Blackburnian Warbler as the foraged for insects.
Male Blackburnian Warbler
Female Blackburnian Warbler
Farther up the road, we spotted a Chestnut-sided Warbler that didn't seem to mind our being close to it.
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
We stopped short of the summit, and headed down the road that is 1/4 mile from the top of Reddish Knob. We saw a Black and White Warbler where that road turns.
Black and White Warbler
After making the turn, we saw our sixth warbler species of the day, and my favorite for this trip. A male Black-throated Green Warbler was teaching two fledglings how to forage for insects in the trees. All three birds were constantly chipping softly to each other to keep their postions known to each other.
Male Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler fledglings
Papa Black-throated Green Warbler and one of the fledglings
Papa Black-throated Green Warbler and one of the fledglings
Papa Black-throated Green Warbler and one of the fledglings
We stopped a few times on the way down to see and photograph other birds, and ended the day trip with 46 avian species.
Blue-headed Vireo
Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk