Black-capped Chickadee
Walt Childs and I headed out to Reddish Knob (elevation 4,397 feet) in western Rockingham County near the border with West Virginia to look for warblers and other migrating birds. The trip turned out very well with our seeing 28 avian species on the road up to the summit, and another 15 species on the trip. At one spot close to the summit, there was a mixed flock of eight warbler species along with some non-warbler birds. We saw a few of these warbler species elsewhere on the roads leading to the summit. Most of the warblers were seen in dark tree canopy with strong sun backlighting that made photography difficult.
Black-capped Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-headed Vireo
Chimney Swift
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Near the summit, we saw a pretty Painted Lady butterfly.
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
Our next stop was Hone Quarry, and it was a disappointment - a couple of woodpeckers, and a few Goldfinches. Our last stop was Silver Lake, northwest of Dayton, VA. We saw a two beavers in the lake, some Mallards and Mute Swans (assumed not wild), and two swallows that presented an identification problem for us. Both swallows were flying quickly above the lake catching flies, and it took us a while to identify one of them as a Northern Rough-winged Swallow, but the other swallow was a challenge. It looked like a Barn Swallow, but it had two white upper tail feathers that looked like a chevron from some angles. After some long looks at it, we assumed that the white upper feathers were a result of molting in progress.
Beaver
Beaver
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Barn Swallow
Barn Swallow
Reddish Knob list (28 species):
Black-throated Blue Warbler Magnolia Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Tennessee Warbler Hooded Warbler American Goldfinch Dark-eyed Junco Eastern Towhee Cedar Waxwing Hairy Woodpecker Turkey Vulture Northern Harrier Red-eyed Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Chimney Swift Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Scarlet Tanager American Crow Common Raven Ruby-throated Hummingbird White-breasted Nuthatch Black-capped Chickadee |
Other trip birds (15 species):
Indigo Bunting Unidentified Sparrow Red-bellied Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker Blue Jay Starling Barn Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Black Vulture Mourning Dove Rock Pigeon Red-tailed Hawk |