Thelma Dalmas, Jim Elder, Sandra Weigand, and I birded on the Blue Ridge
Parkway this morning from The James River Visitor Center north to the Punchbowl
AT trailhead (just past milepost 52). The south side of the James River at the
visitor center is in Bedford County and the rest of this piece of the parkway,
north of the James River, is in Amherst County.
The weather was cool and cloudy all morning. We did not hear a lot of birds
singing and when they did, their songs were sometimes incomplete. Thelma told
us that Fred Scott would say that the birds were not singing well. The bird we
did hear nearly every time we stopped (besides a red-eyed vireo, of course) was
HOODED WARBLER. Despite the birds being relatively quiet, we tallied 58
species. The best bird of the day was a singing, early Blackpoll Warbler
(expected 5 May according to Birds of Lynchburg and Vicinity and the Gold Book
for Mountains and Valleys). Other FOS birds for me, besides the blackpoll, were
Eastern Wood-Pewee and Warbling Vireo. See complete species lists from eBird
below.
Rexanne Bruno
Lynchburg, VA
PS Lynchburg birders: I added the three FOS birds above so I'm at 148 (with a
house wren in my yard yesterday), Thelma added 12 species today and is at 137,
Jim added 7 species which puts him at 144, and Sandra added 11 (including a
life Warbling Vireo) so she is at 140.
---------------------------------------------------------
Location: Bedford County, VA, US
Observation date: 4/30/09
Notes: birded on Bedford County side of the river at James River Visitor
Center (all swallows reported on Amherst list)
Number of species: 25
Wood Duck 2
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 4
Osprey 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Rock Pigeon 3
Warbling Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Eastern Bluebird 1
American Robin 1
Cedar Waxwing 7
Yellow Warbler 1
Louisiana Waterthrush 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Chipping Sparrow 2
Field Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Common Grackle 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Orchard Oriole 2
Baltimore Oriole 2
House Finch 4
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/VA)
Location: Amherst County, VA, US
Observation date: 4/30/09
Notes: birded from the James River Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway
north to the Punchbowl trail head (just north of milepost 52)
Number of species: 46
Canada Goose 2
Wood Duck 4
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 8
Rock Pigeon 3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Red-eyed Vireo 17
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 12
Tree Swallow 5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 3
Cliff Swallow 15
Barn Swallow 8
Carolina Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 14
Eastern Bluebird 1
Wood Thrush 4
American Robin 1
Northern Parula 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Black-throated Green Warbler 5
Pine Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Worm-eating Warbler 4
Ovenbird 4
Louisiana Waterthrush 4
Hooded Warbler 10
Scarlet Tanager 1
Chipping Sparrow 10
Northern Cardinal 5
Indigo Bunting 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Baltimore Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 10
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/VA)