Barn Swallow
I met Huck Hutchins up at Rockfish Gap to do some birding on Skyline Drive today. Huck used to live here in central Virginia, but is now the birding guru at Estero Llano State Park in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Huck visits family here every year, and we usually try to get together for some birding when he visits. While I was waiting for him at Rockfish Gap, I saw several Barn Swallows and a few Mourning Doves. There was quite a bit of cloud cover, and it was fairly windy. Thunderstorms were forecasted for later in the afternoon.
Barn Swallow
We took Route 340 north to Route 33 to enter Skyline Drive. Along the way, we drove by the sod farm south of Elkton to check the fields for migrating shorebirds. All we saw there were a few Killdeers, some Northern Rough-winged Swallows, and a juvenile Cooper's Hawk.
Cooper's Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Our first stop on Skyline Drive was at Pocosin Cabin. The trail was very wet and muddy from all the recent rain, and there were very few birds to see there.
First year male, or perhaps female, Hooded Warbler
Blue-headed Vireo
Gray Catbird
American Goldfinch
Our next stop was at Hightop Mountain (near mm. 67). This site has been a reliable place for Kentucky and Cerulean Warblers for the past couple of years. But we didn't see any warblers there today, and continued south to Loft Mountain.
It was fairly quiet at Loft Mountain as well, but we did see three warbler species there: Hooded, Chestnut-sided, and Worm-eating, as well as a few other species.
Male Hooded Warbler
Male Hooded Warbler
Male Hooded Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Female indigo Bunting
A rabbit froze on the trail, and seemed to be sure that we couldn't see it a few feet in front of us.
Rabbit
While hiking on a trail there, we forgot one of the cardinal rules of birding: watch where you are walking instead of looking up into the trees. The heel of one of my shoes caught the edge of a large pile of bear scat. Huck left an entire shoe print in it! We continued south, and near Rockfish Gap, a thunderstorm moved in, and we called it a day. Not a lot of birds, but nevertheless, a good day.