This morning several of the boys went with me to the Briery Branch Dam and
Reddish Knob areas. We were looking for warblers, especially the
black-throated blues since we had not yet photographed any this year. We
made numerous stops from the dam to the top of the mountain and then
southward toward Reddish Knob. We didn't see anything particularly notable
prior to the parking area at the entrance to Flagpole road.
As I was about to step out of the vehicle to listen there, I glanced out the
window and noticed the ground was crawling with thousands of bees that
appeared to be bumble bees. Had I stepped out I have no doubt they would
have been all around my feet/me in moments. I decided to open the window
for a photo, and almost instantly a bee came through the window. I could
hardly get the window up fast enough to keep the others out that wanted in.
For background, we had rain during the night, and it had been drizzling just
prior to our arrival. The bees were all over moist dirt, and an especially
wet-looking area on the blacktop. Does anyone have a clue what was going
on? Do bumble bees swarm like honey bees, though this was not a cluster
like a swarm of honey bees.
We stopped many other places with moist dirt. Nowhere else did the bee
population come close to the thousands we saw in this parking lot. Please
don't say someone dumped a can of beer. I believe it would have taken a
couple kegs to cover the ground as wide as the bees were covering the
ground-it was the WHOLE parking lot.
We went southward toward Reddish Knob. At the Rockingham/Augusta County
line, we finally photographed a black-throated blue warbler.
http://www.naturefriendmagazine.com/photos.pl?catid=103
Further south, we found Canada warblers, redstart, black and white,
chestnut-sided, and black-throated green.
On the way home, we again checked out the bees. Many were still there,
though fewer than early on. I still would not have wanted to step out of
the car. A mile or so later, we saw another bear-it makes four within this
past week as we birded, and the tenth for the year. It was the third bear
out of four trips to this same area this past week. I believe we are seeing
more bear than deer.
Other recent bird photo opportunities include:
Bald Mountain Road near Reddish Knob: Canada Warbler:
http://www.naturefriendmagazine.com/photos.pl?catid=98
Swift Run Overlook, Shenandoah National Park: Yellow-breasted chat. One
photo shows him scratching his head on a gall-must have had an itch:
http://www.naturefriendmagazine.com/photos.pl?catid=100
Hightop Mountain Parking Area, SNP: Kentucky warbler:
http://www.naturefriendmagazine.com/photos.pl?catid=99 and American
Redstart: http://www.naturefriendmagazine.com/photos.pl?catid=81
Kevin Shank
Rockingham County
