Blue Ridge Parkway, VA 8/30/2022

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

I went back up to the parkway this morning, and birded along the first 8 miles there, but birds were scarce and not a single warbler was seen or heard. So I turned around and got onto Route 610 at mm. 4 of the parkway. I stopped at one of my favorite warbler sites near mm. 3 of the parkway, and saw a Hooded Warbler and a Common Yellowthroat.

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Hooded Warbler

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Hooded Warbler

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Hooded Warbler

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First summer male Common Yellowthroat

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First summer male Common Yellowthroat

I then drove down to the old tower, and didn't expect to see much there given the poor birding to this point. It seemed like the strong fall warbler migration had not come to this part of the parkway so far this year. I saw a few hummingbirds and got a look at an unusual appearing warbler. It's facial pattern, eye ring, yellow eyebrow, and bill shape made it difficult to identify, but given its all yellow underside and partial hood, I'm fairly sure it was a female Hooded Warbler.

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Ruby-throated Hummingbird

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Hooded Warbler

And then I got really lucky. I immediately knew what I was seeing, and tried to get as many photos as I could through the dense leaves. It was a female Golden-winged Warbler. Once every few years, a Golden-winged Warbler is reported during migration along this part of the parkway/610, but although I have seen a fair number of this species in Highland County, I had never seen one elsewhere. This was my 28th warbler species photographed along the first 14 miles of the parkway/610. And I had never seen, much less photographed, a female Golden-winged Warbler with its gray face mask and throat. All the ones I had seen before were males (adults and juveniles) with a black face mask and throat. I once saw a male Lawrence's Warbler (Golden-winged x Blue-winged hybrid) in the Rockfish Valley, but all the other Golden-winged, Lawrence's, and Brewster's hybrids I have seen were males and in Highland County.

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Female Golden-winged Warbler

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Female Golden-winged Warbler

All it takes is one good photo to make a great birding day!


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