Blue Ridge Parkway, VA 8/18/2021

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

We had more rain overnight and early this morning. The Blue Ridge Mountains were blanketed with fog and clouds, but started to clear around 10:00 a.m. I thought that the warblers might have been waiting for it to clear before foraging in earnest, and perhaps some migrating warblers might have settled in for the night to get out of the rain. So when I arrived at the parkway at 10:20, most of the low clouds had cleared, and there was a mix of overcast skies with a few clear areas. As soon as I got onto Route 610 at mm. 2 of the parkway, I saw a VDOT truck by the side of the road. Route 610 was dark and wet, and there were quite a few smaller branches on the road, and almost no birds. Perhaps the VDOT crew had been clearing the road and scared the birds away? I got back onto the parkway at mm. 4, and it was mostly quiet - not a lot of cars, and not a lot of birds. I stopped at the lower, north end of the cirque (mm. 7.5), and got a quick look at a Worm-eating Warbler.

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Worm-eating Warbler

The upper, south end of the cirque was busy with birds. I heard a Cerulean Warbler multiple times, but only got one quick look at it. But I did get better looks at other warblers.

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart negotiating with a Chestnut-sided Warbler

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American Redstart negotiating with a Chestnut-sided Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black and White Warbler

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Black and White Warbler

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Black and White Warbler

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Scarlet Tanager

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Blue-headed Vireo

I continued south all the way to 3 Ridges Overlook, but only saw a few non-warbler species.

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Indigo Bunting and Ruby-throated Hummingbird

On my return north, I stopped at mm. 8 when I heard a lot of avian activity. I heard two Cerulean Warblers, saw two Carolina Wrens, another Blue-heard Vireo, and got a distant photo of my 7th warbler species of the morning.

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Blackburnian Warbler

It will be another week before there should be good warbler migration up there, but I was happy to find some of them this morning.


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