Reddish Knob, VA, 6/29/16

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

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.

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Pine Warbler

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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).

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Rose-breasted Grosbeak

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American Goldfinch

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Cedar Waxwing

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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.

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Male Blackburnian Warbler

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Female Blackburnian Warbler

Farther up the road, we spotted a Chestnut-sided Warbler that didn't seem to mind our being close to it.

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Chestnut-sided Warbler

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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.

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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.

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Male Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler fledglings

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Papa Black-throated Green Warbler and one of the fledglings

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Papa Black-throated Green Warbler and one of the fledglings

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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.

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Blue-headed Vireo

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Broad-winged Hawk

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Broad-winged Hawk


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