May 24, 2008 [LINK / comment]

Late spring migrating warblers

Just when I thought the spring migration season was pretty much over, I got lucky this bright and beautiful morning with my first Blackburnian Warbler of the season -- a male, plainly visible but at least 40 yards away. I also saw a few Magnolia Warblers, Blackpoll Warblers, and one or two Wilson's Warblers. Those obnoxious Starlings, with their noisy fledglings, were everywhere, it seemed. Highlights of what I saw:

Location: Staunton-Augusta Rescue Squad trail
Observation date: 5/24/08
Number of species: 27

• Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
• Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
• Red-eyed Vireo - 2
• Brown Thrasher - 2
• Cedar Waxwing - 5
• Magnolia Warbler - 4
• Blackburnian Warbler - 1 (FOS)
• Blackpoll Warbler - 5
• Wilson's Warbler - 1
• Eastern Towhee - 4
• Indigo Bunting - 3

I also heard a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and a Northern Parula. I took a video of a Blackpoll Warbler drying off after a bath, but it was poor quality because of the angle of the sun. Instead, here is a Black & White Warbler that we saw at Ramsey's Draft last month:

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/VA)

Near the dump

Yesterday, on Christians Creek Road near the landfill, I saw two first-of-season birds: Yellow-billed Cuckoos (2) that were chasing an Eastern Wood-Pewee for some reason. Highlights of what I saw:

Location: Christians Creek Road - Rt. 648
Observation date: 5/23/08
Number of species: 15

• Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 2 (FOS)
• Northern Flicker - 1
• Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1 (FOS)
• Red-eyed Vireo - 2
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
• Indigo Bunting - 2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/VA)