American Redstart
It was time to see what warblers might have arrived at the lower elevations of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I look for them all along the first 14 miles of the parkway, and along parallel Route 610 between mm. 2 and mm. 4 of the parkway. The higher elevations usually do not have enough vegetation leafing out for the warblers until about the first week of May, but the section of Route 620 where I look for warblers is low enough in elevation that the second half of April may show some early arrivals.
It was completely overcast when I arrived at Route 610 at 9:30 this morning, and soon found myself dodging a few raindrops now and then. But in two hours, I saw four warbler species, and heard a fifth: Ovenbird.
American Redstart
American Redstart
American Redstart
Black and White Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Pine Warbler
Well, I wasn't ready to go home yet, so I drove to Ridgeview Park in nearby Waynesboro. The wooded areas in the park tend to green-up early, and it can be good place to find migrating warblers. I did see a few avian species there, but the only warbler was a Yellow-rumped.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
It was now 12:10, and I needed to make an executive decion. I was only 20 minutes from home, and had planned to drive the first 14 miles on the parkway tomorrow when it was forecasted to be sunny. But I was curious if any warblers might have arrived closer to mile marker 14, as the parkway is not quite as high there. And the sky was starting to brighten a bit.
So I got back onto the parkway at mm. 0, bypassed Route 610, and stopped at a few of my regular warbler spots between mm. 7 and mm. 14. I was surprised at the amount of leafed out vegetation. The vegetative greening appears to be about one to two weeks ahead of usual, and some of the warblers have started to arrive at the higher elevations. At first, all I heard were a few American Redstarts, but then the trip up there proved to be a good decision.
I saw Cerulean Warblers very high up in the trees at two locations, got some close-up shots of two more Black and White Warblers, and saw a cooperative Ovenbird.
Cerulean Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Ovenbird
Ovenbird
Ovenbird
So I ended the outing with 32 avian species, 26 on the parkway and 6 additional at Ridgeview Park. And that included 7 warblers species, with 5 of them being first of season species for me.