Blue Ridge Parkway, VA 5/4/18

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

It was another and hot day, so I started off at Ridgeview Park in Waynesboro, with plans to head to higher and cooler elevations on the Blue Ridge Parkway as the morning temperatures climbed quickly. Ridgeview Park was fairly quiet, but I did see an Osprey and a small flock of Cedar Waxwings, along with a few other common species. One of the Cedar Waxwings had an orange tail tip, most likely diet-related from eating red berries and coloring its normally yellow tail tip.

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Cedar Waxwings; note tail tips

As I was ending my hike at the park, I saw a few smaller birds high up in one of the trees that were acting like warblers, so I took a few photos. They soon took off, and I didn't bother trying to re-locate them, but I wish I did. When I got back to my car, I took a quick look at the photos in my camera. There are 36 warbler species that can usually be found in this part of Virginia, although some are quite a challenge to find. I have photographed all of these 36 warbler species, but have set as one of my high priorities, to get better breeding plumage photos of 4 of them. Bay-breasted Warbler is one of the 4, and sure enough, one of the 2 warblers was my first of season (FOS) Bay-breasted, and the other was my FOS Magnolia.

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Bay-breasted Warbler

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Magnolia Warbler

I birded along the first 14 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, with a side trip on a couple of miles on parallel Route 610. I added 7 more warbler species: Ovenbird, Hooded (heard only, but 6+), Common Yellowthroat (heard only), Yellow-rumped, Chestnut-sided, American Redstart, and Cerulean. The Redstarts and Ceruleans were singing and flitting about at almost every stop I made. I also saw my FOS Red-eyed Vireo, and this species was all along my route as well.

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Chestnut-sided Warbler

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Ovenbird

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Cerulean Warbler

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Cerulean Warbler

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Cerulean Warbler

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Cerulean Warbler

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Cerulean Warbler

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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Red-eyed Vireo

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Red-eyed Vireos

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Red-eyed Vireos

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Red-eyed Vireo

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Red-eyed Vireo


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