[va-bird] Reddish Knob and vicinity, Augusta and Rockingham Counties

This morning, June 30, I drove up to Reddish Knob in the northern corner of
Augusta County.  This is another of the county's highest peaks at 4397 ft.
Unlike the others, this summit is attainable by a paved road.  I accessed
this road by ascending Shenandoah Mountain through Rockingham County via 257
to Briery Branch and then 924 to the ridge top.  County road 924 is where
nesting Red Crossbills were found by one of Clair Malinger's EMU ornithology
students last year.  I spent quite a bit of time looking and listening in
the pines that border the last few miles to the top but did not appreciate
crossbills.  I did find the usual assemblage of forest dwelling middle and
upper elevation species including Black-throated Blue, B-t Green,
Worm-eating, Black and White, Pine, Hooded and Chestnut-sided Warblers.
Blue-headed Vireos were plentiful at the higher elevations.  An occasional
raven croaked or soared overhead.  

Not until I crossed into Augusta County near the summit of Reddish Knob did
I find Canada Warblers or Veerys.  Including the descent down FS 85 on the
Augusta County side, I totaled 7 Canada Warblers with 2 females carrying
food.  Only 1 singing male was heard; the others responded boldly to
pishing.  They occupied mostly witch-hazel and mixed shrub thickets near the
summit.  At least 12 Veerys were seen or heard.  Other breeding evidence
included fledged Chestnut-sided Warblers, Pine Warblers, juncos, Chipping
Sparrows and 1 juvenile male Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  I also found one very
busy pair of Black-throated Green Warblers feeding a fledged cowbird AND a
fledged youngster of their own species.  During the 5 minutes I watched them
the young warbler was fed twice for every one feeding to the cowbird, with
both fledglings seeming to fare well.   

I was impressed at the number of Black-capped Chickadees up there.  I
counted 10 in Rockingham County and 21 in Augusta County.  This included
several vocal family groups.  The largest family group was 6 birds on FS 85
and included fledged begging young and adults feeding young. 
 
Also encountered were 3 adult Broad-winged Hawks and one Barred Owl on the
Augusta County leg of this trip.

Notably absent were other possible breeders such as Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-rumped, Blackburnian or Magnolia
Warblers.  Some of these are notoriously coniferphyllic.  Reddish Knob is
largely devoid of stands of spruce although there are scattered jack pine
areas but these may not be the preferred habitat.  The considerable stands
of hemlock are sadly dead or dying from the wooly adelgid scourge.  This
introduced insect seems to be destroying all of the eastern hemlocks, which
I suspect has to have a toll on birds that rely on these conifers!   It
might be worthwhile to take a trip north along this ridge to Bother Knob and
Flagpole Knob in Rockingham Counties where breeding and summer records of
these species have been recorded in the past.  Perhaps another day. 

John Spahr

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