June 22, 2007 [LINK / comment]
This morning I helped with the Audubon-National Park Service Cerulean warbler survey for a second time. (My first such effort was six days ago, on June 16.) It was in the same general area of the Shenandoah National Park as before, near Swift Run Gap, only a few miles to the south. There were no bears or skunks blocking my way this time, only a box turtle. I saw two Cerulean warblers this time (rather than one), and one of them came to within 30 or so feet of me, right next to the parking lot on Skyline Drive. I heard but did not see three more. I thought I heard some Canada warblers, but they turned out to be Hooded warblers singing an odd variation of their usual song. Perhaps the best part was seeing a family of Black and white warblers, with the father feeding one of the youngsters. Today's list of highlights bears a stunning resemblance to the list of birds I saw in that general area last Saturday:
I also happened to see a Hairy woodpecker out back this evening, a young male. It's rather unusual to see them in town.