Blue Ridge Parkway, VA 6/29/2020

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

I knew that looking for warblers up on the parkway this morning would be a challenge. With dense tree cover and most of the warblers having stopped singing for mates, I didn't expect too much success. But there wasn't any rain in the forecast, and I knew that it would be cooler up there than down in the Piedmont. This is also a good time to start looking for juvenile warblers.

When I arrived around 9:30 it was mostly cloudy and very breezy, but by the time I left at 1:30 it was mostly sunny, and the wind had calmed a bit. And the temperature was in the 70s the entire time rather than the low 90s at home. I birded along the first 14 miles of the parkway, except for going onto Route 610 both ways between mm. 2 and mm. 4 of the parkway. My first stop was at the old tower on 610, where I saw a Common Raven, and found a Cerulean Warbler.

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Common Raven

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Cerulean Warbler

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Cerulean Warbler

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Cerulean Warbler

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Cerulean Warbler

I continued down 610, saw a few male and a female American Redstarts, and heard a few Worm-eating Warblers and Ovenbirds. The male American Redstarts I saw today seemed to have a lot of white on their heads. Perhaps they were young males still getting their adult plumage?

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Female American Redstart

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Male American Redstart

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Male American Redstart

I got back onto the parkway and went all the way to 3 Ridges Overlook. I didn't find, or even hear many warblers along the way. On my return, I stopped near mm. 8, saw another male American Redstart and had my favorite birding moment of the outing.

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Male American Redstart

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Male American Redstart

At this stop, a male Black and White Warbler was foraging back and forth on both sides of the road, and close to me. At one point, it flew right at me, stopped about two feet in front of me, grabbed a fly in mid-air, and then returned to a branch with its meal. I wasn't able to get a photo of the catch, but got a few photos as soon as it perched.

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Male Black and White Warbler

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Male Black and White Warbler

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Male Black and White Warbler

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Male Black and White Warbler

I got back onto 610 at mm. 4, and as I was driving past the tall pine trees where Pine Warblers are nesting, 3 yellow birds flew right past my car and out of sight. I assume that it was a Pine Warbler family going out to teach the little ones to forage for insects. A bit farther down 610, I saw a female Black and White Warbler and a male Hooded Warbler.

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Female Black and White Warbler

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Male Hooded Warbler

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Male Hooded Warbler

I ended the outing with 24 avian species, including all 7 of the breeding warbler species there. And I was happy to get some photos of 4 of these warbler species with the dense tree canopies.

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Gray Catbird

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Chipping Sparrow

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Dark-eyed Junco

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Indigo Bunting

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Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillar


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