Hi all,
Three of us from the Blue Ridge Young Birders Club -- Walker Catlett, adult
coordinator Eve Gaige, and I headed down to "Warbler Road" in Botetourt County
today. It is the tail end of migration but there are still some good birds
pushing through and we held in for a super day.
We started off at 6:15am in Fishersville and got on I-64 west and then I-81
south. As we were on the ramp to merge onto I-81 south there was a flagman
that signaled to us that we could not get on 81, for no apparent reason. This
lasted for 29 minutes and we never figured out why. While we were sitting
there for a LONG half hour knowing we were missing Warblers on Warbler Rd we
rolled down the windows of the car and managed to see and hear 24 species.
Highlights included 4 flyover Mallards, 1 Brown Thrasher, a Prairie Warbler
singing from nearby fields, an Indigo Bunting, and a Baltimore Oriole. This
was near Staunton in Augusta County.
Once we finally got down to Buchanan at 8:00am way later than hoped we had a
few species on Hwy 43 between Buchanan and The Blue Ridge Parkway including a
mama Killdeer with 3 little babies, an Ovenbird, and a Louisiana Waterthrush.
Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway from Hwy 43 up to Sunset Field Overlook at the
top of Warbler Road we had 29 species with highlights: 1 Acadian Flycatcher, 2
YT Vireo, 38 RE Vireo, 10 Wood Thrush, 40 Ovenbird, 4 WE Warblers, 1 Northern
Waterthrush singing at Peaks of Otter, 4 B&W, 46 Redstart, 2 Cape May Warblers
just north of Peaks of Otter, 10 Cerulean, 3 Blackpoll, 5 BTGreen, 13 Scarlet
Tanagers, 1 RB Grosbeak.
We then drove up the 1.7 mile dead end service road leading parallel to the
parkway going north from Sunset Field Overlook and Warbler Road. Here we had
25 species with highlights: 1 Hairy Woodpecker, 4 Pewee, 4 BH & 12 RE Vireos, 1
Veery, 2 Wood Thrush, Warblers (6 Ovenbirds, 2 B&W, 18 Redstart, 9 Cerulean, 2
Chestnut-sided, 2 Blackpoll, 2 BTBlue, 1 Canada), 4 Scarlet Tanagers, and 2
RBGrosbeak. We then spent the next 2.5+ hours traversing Warbler Road downhill
and tallied 33 species with highlights: 3 Acadian Flycatchers, Vireos (3 YT, 4
BH, and 61 RE), Thrushes (2 Veery, 1 Swainson's, 2 Wood), Warblers (39
Ovenbird, 18 WE, 1 L. Waterthrush, 11 B&W, 14 Hooded, 54 Redstart, 14 Cerulean,
1 Blackburnian, 4 BTBlue, 4 BTGreen, 7 Canada), 17 Scarlet Tanagers, and 7
RBGrosbeak.
Then along Rte 59 between Warbler Rd and Solitude Rd we had 2 L. Waterthrush, 1
Hooded, 2 Redstart, and 2 Parula. Along Solitude Rd we had 7 Canada Geese (a
parent pair and 5 goslings), 1 YBCuckoo, another N. Waterthrush at the swamp,
and our only Common Yellowthroat of the day. Then between Solitude Rd and the
Arcadia Boat Landing at the River we had 5 Warbling Vireos. At the boat
landing itself we had a White-eyed Vireo and a Yellow-throated Warbler.
We then headed back towards the north but took a detour in Augusta County over
to Swoope. It turned out to be very productive. In and around the Swoope Area
we had 48 species with highlights: 1 Wood Duck, 1 Northern Bobwhite (a female
seen at the intersection of Livick & Cattleman Rds .. provenance questionable
as a possible released bird), 1 almost fully grown baby Bald Eagle at the nest,
5 Spotted & 3 Least Sandpipers at Smith's (private property), 2 Kestrels, 4
Willow Flycatchers (Cattleman Rd & Smith's), 1 GCFlycatcher, 35 Cliff Swallows
(30+ along Baylor Mill Rd south of Swoope and east of Glebe School Rd at one
big barn plus another 5 at Smith's), 3 Yellow Warblers, 3 Grasshopper Sparrows,
7 Bobolinks along Cattleman Rd, 31 E Meadowlarks, and 1 of each Orchard &
Baltimore Orioles. Back in Fishersville we added 2 new hawk species,
Cooper's and Red-shouldered right at the end of the day.
In the end we had 95 species total (68 in Botetourt and 55 in Augusta)
including 20 warblers! 5 of these 95 were life birds for Walker.
Thanks again to Eve for driving and Walker for joining in on a very fun and
successful day. Good Birding,
Gabriel Mapel
New Hope, VA
