Highland County, VA 5/19/12

All photos are © Marshall Faintich


I know that "great" is a relative term, but in my opinion, this was a "great" birding day for me. Regular readers of my blog postings may remember that my highest priority birding objective is to photograph all 36 of the warbler species that have been seen in my local central Virginia area, even if I have to travel a bit out of the area to photograph one or more of the species. I still needed five species to accomplish this goal (Bay-breasted, Connecticut, Golden-winged, Mourning, and Prothonotary).

I remembered meeting Margaret O'Bryan at the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch last autumn, and her telling me that she had Golden-winged Warblers at her place in Highland County VA, located near the Virginia/West Virginia border. With the help of some local birders, I was able to obtain contact information for her, and Margaret kindly offered to let me come and go birding on her property. She said that there were both Golden-winged Warblers and Brewster's Warblers (Golden-winged X Blue-winged hybrid) singing there.

I enlisted the help of Walt Childs, a neighbor here in Stoney Creek. Walt is a past-president of the Augusta County Bird Club, and has birded in Highland County many times. The two of us headed out from Stoney Creek at 8:20 a.m., and arrived at Margaret's place at 10:40. She told us that there had been a Brewster's and a female Golden-winged downhill from her house, and a male Golden-winged uphill from her house. She also warned us that there might be large Timber Rattlesnakes sunning themselves on the grassy paths in either or both directions. By noon, Walt and I had seen more than 20 species on her property.


View from Margaret O'Bryan's place


Common Yellowthroat


Juvenile and adult American Robins


Field Sparrow


Baltimore Oriole


House Wren


Red-tailed Hawk


Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Oh! Did I mention Golden-winged and Brewster's Warblers? :-) The first one we encountered was an interesting warbler. Male Golden-winged Warblers have black throat and auricular (eye) patches, and females have gray patches. However, first year adults can have some white mixed in with the black or gray. As I am certainly not an expert on this species, my best guess is that this bird is either an immature male Golden-winged, or perhaps a cross between a Brewster's and a Golden-winged showing combined characteristics. Very little throat patch is seen when the bird has its head somewhat down, but more throat patch is seen when its head is raised as it sings. The darkness of its auricular patch varied with its direction to the sunlight. All opinions on the bird would be appreciated.


Golden-winged or Golden-winged X Brewster's hybrid


Golden-winged or Golden-winged X Brewster's hybrid


Golden-winged or Golden-winged X Brewster's hybrid


Golden-winged or Golden-winged X Brewster's hybrid


Golden-winged or Golden-winged X Brewster's hybrid


Golden-winged or Golden-winged X Brewster's hybrid


Golden-winged or Golden-winged X Brewster's hybrid

We also saw a warbler that was clearly a Brewster's.


Brewster's Warbler


Brewster's Warbler


Brewster's Warbler


Brewster's Warbler

Walt then guided us on a drive with multiple stops along the two state border. At times, we were driving on good roads that intersected farm fields, but most of the time we were on curvy, bumpy, single-lane, gravel mountain roads with sharp drop-offs and no guard rails. Soon after leaving Margaret's, I had a couple of firsts. We saw a few Bobolinks in breeding plumage, and previously, I had only seen this species in non-breeding plumage. And we saw a couple of Cliff Swallows sitting on a power line - another new life species for me.


Bobolink


Bobolink


Bobolink


Bobolink


Bobolink


Cliff Swallow


Cliff Swallow

We stopped several times to listen and look for warblers. We heard or saw American Redstarts at several locations. We went to one location where Walt had seen Mourning Warblers before, but we didn't see any. But at that location we saw at least a dozen Chestnut-sided Warblers, and many of them were so close to us that my long camera lens could not focus on them.


Yellow Warbler


Yellow Warbler


Yellow Warbler


Yellow Warbler


Canada Warbler


Chestnut-sided Warbler


Chestnut-sided Warbler

We saw a lot of non-warbler species as well. There was a single Common Loon on a small lake, and the only Loon I had previously seen was a flying bird up at the hawk watch. As we were leaving, we saw our 46th species of the day, a Wild Turkey.


Male Hairy Woodpecker


Female Hairy Woodpecker


Common Loon


Common Loon


Common Loon

Today's List (46 species, counting the Brewster's and Golden-winged separately):
Common Loon
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Wild Turkey
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Hairy Woodpecker
Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird
Blue Jay
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
House Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Starling
Golden-winged(?) Warbler
Brewster’s Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Baltimore Oriole
Bobolink
Eastern Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch




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