A lone Black-throated Green Warbler was one of Greg Moyer's and my highlights
today in the Switzer Lake area, west of Harrisonburg. We covered just over 3.5
miles one-way. In a week or two this species should be in good numbers there.
Other finds included a drumming Ruffed Grouse and a flock of at least 6 RC
Kinglets with lots of songsters in action. Pretty cool! Other warblers were
Pine & Black-and-white.
Not so great was the myriad of intense gunfire that fouled the air for nearly
an hour. These seemed beyond hunting-level weapons, and the racket was
downright nerve-wracking. It went on for the entire trip once we crossed the
slab bridge -- nearly an hour. A not-so-restful Sunday in the George
Washington National Forest at Shenandoah Mountain.
A photo of the BTG Warbler is here:
http://birdtrek.smugmug.com/Animals/Shenandoah-Valley-VA-Spring-2015/48359800_hDPkR8#!i=3987807340&k=q42s7Fg
A track of the trip, courtesy of the "Ramblr" android phone app is here -- this
will show you a map of our travel, and includes sound recordings that
unfortunately are mostly of gunfire...please know this racket is NOT the norm,
and this trip is one of our local favorites for warblers -- http://rblr.co/C2Pu
Diane Lepkowski
Harrisonburg
