FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Big Spring Day - Blue Ridge Rt. 610

[losclems@xxxxxxx (Andrew G. Clem)]

Saturday May 4 was a bleak, chilly, overcast day up on the Blue Ridge, but
I counted enough interesting birds as part of the Augusta Bird Club's "Big
Spring Day" to make it worthwhile, 47 species altogether.  The highlights
were a yellow-breasted chat, 3 scarlet tanagers, a yellow-throated vireo, 2
hooded warblers, and a cerulean warbler.  I started at the Afton Inn,
headed south on Rt. 610, then joined the Blue Ridge Parkway until the
village of Love, at which point I headed down toward Sherando Lake.  By
then the intermittent drizzle had turned into a steady rain.

I SAW:

 1 .. Phoebe
 3 .. BG gnatcatchers
 4 .. Downy WPs
30 .. Goldfinches (mostly at Swanannoa Golf Course)
 7 .. Bluebirds

 7 .. Red-eyed vireo
 2 .. Tree swallows
 1 .. Yellow-breasted chat (in scrubland across from Swanannoa Golf Course)
 4 .. Gray catbirds
 7 .. Towhees

11 .. American redstarts
 2 .. Hooded warblers (M & F)
 2 .. Brown thrashers
 3 .. RC kinglets
 1 .. WB nuthatch

 1 .. Yellow-throated vireo
 4 .. Juncos (It's a treat to hear these winter birds SING!)
 1 .. Yellow-rumped warbler
 1 .. Pine warbler
 6 .. Chipping sparrows

 1 .. Cerulean warbler
 1 .. Black & white warbler
 3 .. Scarlet tanagers (M & F)
 1 .. Common yellowthroat (M)
26 .. Brown-headed cowbirds (mostly in a field by the village of Love)

 1 .. Sharp-shinned hawk
 1 .. Black vulture
 2 .. Ravens
 3 .. Indigo bunting
 1 .. Rose-breasted grosbeak (F)

 1 .. Wood thrush
 1 .. Winter wren
 1 .. Hairy WP
 3 .. Great crested flycatchers
 1 .. Eastern wood pewee (near Sherando Lake)

 4 .. Turkey vultures
18 .. Robins
12 .. Starlings
 1 .. Mockingbird
 4 .. Titmice

16 .. Amer. crows
 3 .. Blue jays
 6 .. Mourning doves
 1 .. Barn swallow
 7 .. Carolina chickadees

 4 .. Cardinals
15 .. Grackles

I also HEARD (but didn't see):

 3 .. Red-bellied WPs
 2 .. White-eyed vireos
 1 .. Worm-eating warbler
 1 .. White-throated sparrow
 1 .. Song sparrow

 1 .. Ovenbird
 1 .. Pileated WP

plus additional towhees, redstarts, & red-eyed vireos not counted above, as
well as a few others whose voices I couldn't identify.

This evening my wife and I saw our first Baltimore oriole (M) of the season
on Bell's Lane outside of Staunton.

Andrew Clem


=========================
Andrew & Jacqueline Clem
Staunton, VA
http://homepage.mac.com/andrew_g_clem/
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