The VSO Field trip to Mt. Rogers was, as usual, special for both the birds
and birders. Dick Peake led the hiking trip to the top of Mt. Rogers and
found the usual great high elevation birds. It is always a treat to have
singing Winter Wrens, Hermit Thrush and Purple Finch. They found a slilent
Alder Flycatcher and a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a new addition in the past
several years.
Dick's expert owl calls gave us a Barred Owl on Fri. night but we were
unable to produce a Saw-whet for the weekend. There are several boxes on
White Top. ( Wallace, do you get credit for these?)
The driving group, with the help of Glen Eller, added two birds not
previously listed on the trip. We went to the White Top Station to get the
Alder Flycatchers that Wallace mentioned, and found those plus a Willow
Flycatcher
(song first identified by Linda Cory) at the same spot. This is really low
elevation for the Willow. On Sun. those who had hiked to Mt. Rogers went to
White Top Station and heard the bird in the exact same place. We also had a
Least Flycatcher and had heard an Acadian at Grindstone Campground before
leaving so we had 4 of the 5 Empidonax in the same day (a first for me). We
went from there to White Top. Although we were unable to turn up any
Crossbills, we had singing Creepers and a fantastic number of Cedar
Waxwings in pairs. With a little time left, we journeyed to Rural Retreat
Lake (not a regular stop) and found the very late Loon that had been
reported. It is probably safe to say that this will be the only Loon on the
VSO Mt. Rogers Field Trip list for years to come. It appears to be a bird
in transition plummage.
A note of interest is the multitude of Magnolias that are found at the
campground. It has been only a few years that you had to climb to the top
of Mt. Rogers or White Top to find them. However, as they have increased at
the lower elevations, the Blackburnians have decreased. This year we did
not record a single Blackburnian.
Thanks to Dick Peak for his leadership and a personal thanks to Glenn Eller
who helped me with the driving trip. Wallace, it appearently takes at least
two to make up for your expertise.
Peggy spiegel, Giles County, VA
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