Skyline Drive, VA, 6/22/16

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Except for Pocosin Cabin, birding on Skyline Drive hasn't been very productive on previous outings, but Walt Childs and I decided to give it a try, as we knew of a few locations along the way that might produce some warbler species. The skies were cloudy, but rain wasn't forecasted until the evening. The trip started out with a very interesting wildlife sighting. We had just left Stoney Creek (Rockfish Valley section of Wintergreen) and were driving north on Route 151, when just before the road into the Rockfish Valley Community Center, a rather large mink ran across the road right in front of the car. This was the fourth mink I had seen in the Rockfish Valley in the past ten years, and as I already had some good photos of this species, I didn't stop to try to relocate the mink.

We entered Skyline Drive at its southern end at Rockfish Gap, made a few quick stops at some of the overlooks to listen for birds, and made our first planned stop at Sawmill Ridge Overlook. This stop is a good place to find Pine Warblers and Chipping Sparrows. Sure enough, there was a very cooperative Pine Warbler there.

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

A pair of Chipping Sparrows were doing their "thing," and I include the following photo if it might be needed for the new Virginia Bird Breeding Atlas.

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Chipping Sparrows

I saw a warbler(?) down the hill from the overlook, thought it might be a young Pine Warbler, but couldn't tell for sure. Any opinions would be appreciated.

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Pine Warbler (? unidentified #1)

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Pine Warbler (? unidentified #1)

A minute or so later, another interesting bird landed in a bush just a few feet away from me, and this one really has me stumped. It is probably another immature Pine Warbler, but the undertail pattern does not look correct for a Pine Warbler, the bill looks more like that of a vireo, and the back of its legs and its feet are yellow, like that of a Blackpoll Warbler. A Yellow-throated Vireo also has dark legs, and this bird doesn't really fit the pattern for any bird I can identify. I don't think that it is the same bird as unidentified #1. Again, any opinions would be appreciated.

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Unidentified #2

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Unidentified #2

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Unidentified #2

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Unidentified #2

We made a few more quick stops, and I heard a couple of Cerulean Warblers, but didn't see any. We made a quick stop at the Rip Rap Trail parking area, and I hiked in about 100 feet, heard an American Redstart, and saw a Hooded Warbler.

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Hooded Warbler

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Hooded Warbler

Our next planned stop was at Loft Mountain, as the wooded area around the amphitheater is a good place to find Chestnut-sided Warblers. We saw lots of Eastern Towhees there, a couple of American Redstarts, and a few Chestnut-sided Warblers, one of which was happy to pose for some close-up photos.

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Eastern Towhee

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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Chestnut-sided Warbler

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Chestnut-sided Warbler

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Chestnut-sided Warbler

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Chestnut-sided Warbler

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Chestnut-sided Warbler

We made a few more quick stops on the way to Pocosin Cabin.

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Scarlet Tanager

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Scarlet Tanager

By the time we got to Pocosin Cabin, it was getting to be fairly overcast and dark. We heard another Cerulean Warbler, saw a few American Redstarts, heard some Wood Thrushes, and saw a few Veerys.

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Veery

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Least Flycatcher

We did a little more birding in the Elkton area, and ended the trip with 40+ avian species.


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