Augusta County, VA 4/20/17

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Walt Childs and I headed west across the Blue Ridge to look for warblers and other migrating species. Our first stop was at Ridgeview Park in Waynesboro. It was very "birdy" there, but the only warblers we saw there were Yellow-rumped. We saw a male Northern Cardinal in the process of molting, and a female Red-bellied Woodpecker looking from her tree cavity nest.

Photo Unavailable
Yellow-rumped Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Blue-headed Vireo

Photo Unavailable
Northern Cardinal

Photo Unavailable
Red-bellied Woodpecker

Our next stop was at the Augusta Springs Wetlands. This has never been a very good birding stop for me, and today was no exception. But we did get to see a pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers working on their nest.

Photo Unavailable
Wood Duck

Photo Unavailable
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Photo Unavailable
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Photo Unavailable
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers

We drove part way up Hite Hollow Road, but the increased elevation soon proved to be too barren for birds this early in the spring. We did see and hear at least five Black-throated Green Warblers at lower elevations, but they stayed high up in the trees.

Photo Unavailable
Black-throated Green Warbler

Our last stop of the day was in Swoope, and we went first to Smith Lake (private property with permission). Eastern Meadowlarks seemed to be in every field. While I was photographing a Spotted Sandpiper and a Solitary Sandpiper, a Greater Yellowlegs flew in. It look HUGE compared with the other two sandpipers.

Photo Unavailable
Eastern Meadowlark

Photo Unavailable
Spotted Sandpiper

Photo Unavailable
Solitary Sandpiper

Photo Unavailable
Solitary Sandpiper

Photo Unavailable
Greater Yellowlegs

Photo Unavailable
Greater Yellowlegs

Photo Unavailable
Greater Yellowlegs

Photo Unavailable
Greater Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpiper

We ended the trip with 43 avian species, but not a single hawk or kestrel.


E-mail comments on this report

Return to blog page home