All - I spent most of the morning in Goshen Pass which is in the western
portion of Rockbridge County along RT 39 looking for warblers. We recently had
a forest fire in that area and the evidence of the forest fire is easy to see
and if you drive out the Hunter Access Rd, you can see where the fire jumped
Guy's Run and continued to move west. I think the fire burnt about 3000 acres.
I spent most of my time on the Hunter Access Rd that is a little west of the
boy scout camp. It is turkey season, so the gates to many of the roads are
open. About 1 mile up the road, there is an old, clear-cut area. It is now
very scrubby and is a good place for Prairie Warbler. As a note of caution - I
won't walk into the area, it is one of the tick-i-est areas I've been in. I
had 2 on me today and I stayed on the gravel road. In that area, I found
several Prairie Warblers, my FOS Indigo Bunting, a number of Worm-eating
Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos, Pine Warblers, Hooded Warblers, Black-and-white
Warblers, Ovenbirds, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and towhees. I heard several
Scarlet Tanagers but didn't see any. Along Rt 39, there is a large pull off
between Guy's Run and Millard Brooke Rd (road to scout camps). There is a
small trail down to the Maury and along the river I found a Louisiana
Waterthrush and a number of Northern Rough-winged Swallows (they nest under the
Guy's Run bridge on Rt 39. In addition to these birds, I heard/saw Carolina
Chickadees (no Black-capped), Tufted Titmice, Cardinals, Ravens, Crows, and
Turkey Vultures.
I've posted a few photos of the Prairie Warblers, Worm-eating Warblers, and
Red-eyed Vireo on Flickr, if you're interested.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmibiology/
Dick Rowe
VMI Biology
