June 30, 2025 [LINK / comment]
NOTE: This is yet another "catch-up" blog post based on Facebook posts from May of last year. The previous one, covering April 2024, was posted on June 20.
May 3: I got some much-needed exercise along Bell's Lane in the morning, and although I could hear a great many birds singing, it was harder to see them -- in part due to the cloudy/hazy skies, but mostly due to the grass cutting that was being done. At least I saw my first Orchard Orioles (M & F, plus 1st-year male) and Yellow Warblers (M) of the year! I could also hear Indigo Buntings and White-eyed Vireos, likewise FOY. The other highlights were a Scarlet Tanager and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Gray Catbirds were everywhere!
May 5: I saw my first Common Yellowthroat of the year and heard my first Rose-breasted Grosbeak along Bell's Lane in the afternoon, but the photos I got were mostly the usual suspects. I did get first-year male Orchard Orioles in two different locations, as well as an Eastern Phoebe, Brown Thrasher (noisy!), Red-bellied Woodpecker at her nest hole, an Eastern Meadowlark, and perhaps most significantly, a late-lingering White-crowned Sparrow very close by. Finally, I glimpsed an Osprey flying overhead, and heard some Indigo Buntings and a White-eyed Vireo once again. Elusive!
(Bell's Lane, May 5)
May 7: I squeezed in a bit of birding time along Bell's Lane on the way home from work at BRCC this afternoon, and was promptly rewarded with my first views this year of both an Indigo Bunting and a White-eyed Vireo! (I had heard both species four days earlier.) I also heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo (FOY), but it remained out of view. Other highlights included lots of Gray Catbirds, as well as some Blue Jays and Carolina Wrens.
May 9: It was a good day for flycatchers along Bell's Lane this afternoon, including an Eastern Phoebe, a Great Crested Flycatcher or two, and my first Eastern Kingbird of the year! Also some hyperactive American Goldfinches and a Field Sparrow with a big fat worm for dinner!
May 10: We had a slow start at the east-side overlooks along the Blue Ridge Parkway during our Augusta Bird Club field trip this morning, with the usual Indigo Buntings and a nice White-eyed Vireo. We had better luck at the telephone tower, however, where multiple American Redstarts, Cerulean Warblers, Hooded Warblers, and Red-eyed Vireos all made appearances. We also heard a couple Ovenbirds there, but for some reason we didn't actually SEE an Ovenbird all day! We really hit pay dirt at the Pioneer Village adjacent to the Humpback Rocks visitor center: An Eastern Wood Pewee, more Redstarts and Ceruleans, a Scarlet Tanager, and the twin highlights of the day: a Least Flycatcher only about 15 feet away, and a Kentucky Warbler! The latter was identified by Scott Priebe, who just moved to this area. Jo King tallied 42 species overall.
(Blue Ridge Parkway & Rt. 610, May 10)
May 11: Here are the highlights of what my group saw at McCormick's Farm this morning: two kinds of vireos (Warbling and Red-eyed), two kinds of orioles (Baltimore and Orchard), two kinds of warblers (Yellow and Blackpoll), as well as Eastern Kingbird, Solitary Sandpiper, Gadwall (evidently injured, as it should have migrated north by now), and an Eastern Meadowlark. It was a beautiful (if rather brisk) day!
(McCormick's Farm, May 11)
May 13: My first real wilderness adventure of the season took place along the Dowells Draft fire road (near Braley Pond in western Augusta County), where I hiked about 3 miles round trip today. On the way back home I spent about 20 minutes checking out the Chimney Hollow trail. The composite image below shows the five migratory birds I saw for the first time this year (clockwise from top left): Worm-eating Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, Wood Thrush, and Black-and-white Warbler. In the center is a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and on the left of course is a Scarlet Tanager. Other notable sightings of the day (photographed) included a Red-eyed Vireo, a Blue-headed Vireo, an Ovenbird, a Louisiana Waterthrush, a N. Flicker, an E. Towhee (F), and an Eastern Phoebe. Other notable sightings (not photographed) included a Red-tailed Hawk, and I also heard some loud squawking, probably a female Ruffed Grouse.
(Dowells Draft, May 13)
May 16: I went for a nice walk along YuLee's Trail at Montgomery Hall Park this afternoon, and had very good views of a White-eyed Vireo and Red-eyed Vireo (in close proximity to each other), as well as a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Indigo Bunting. Near the top of the hill I eventually saw an Eastern Wood Pewee and a Great Crested Flycatcher. I also heard a Broad-winged Hawk nearby, but didn't see it. No warblers at all, however!
(Montgomery Hall Park, May 16)
May 18: A quick visit to Leonard's Pond this afternoon yielded a Spotted Sandpiper, a Semipalmated Sandpiper, a couple Killdeer, a family of Mallards, some Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows, and a Red-tailed Hawk flying overhead.
May 19: Jacqueline and I went hiking in the area around Jarman Gap in the Shenandoah National Park today, but the very soggy ground prevented us from getting as far as we wanted. It was very foggy along Skyline Drive and generally gloomy until the early afternoon. I managed to photograph a Red-eyed Vireo, a Hooded Warbler, and an American Redstart or two, but not the Ovenbirds, Black-and-white Warblers, and Wood Thrushes that we also glimpsed along the way. By 3:00 the sun was shining and I had some nice photo ops of Indigo Buntings and an Eastern Towhee at one of the overlooks, as well as a Common Raven and some kind of hawk in the distance.
(Jarman Gap, Shenandoah National Park, May 19)
May 20: Late this afternoon along Bell's Lane I saw a Cedar Waxwing for the first time in months; three of them, in fact! A Northern Flicker briefly flashed his dazzling yellow under-wing feathers, but I had to content myself with a profile pose. Otherwise, the usual cast of characters, including a daddy Red-bellied Woodpecker cautiously peering out of the family nest hole.
May 21: I went hiking on one of my favorite trails today, going from the Confederate Breastworks south along the crest of the Shenandoah Mountain for a little over two miles, and then back. I got most of my target birds, including three for the first time this year, or two if you count ones that I *heard* previously. Clockwise from top left: Black-throated Blue Warbler (FOY), Black-and-White Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Canada Warbler (FOY), Scarlet Tanager, Black-throated Green Warbler, and in right-center, an Ovenbird. Other sightings included Indigo Bunting, Worm-eating Warbler, Pileated Woodpecker, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Towhee, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak* (FSOY). Others identified by sound included Hooded Warbler, Hairy Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco, American Redstart, and Eastern Wood Pewee. Also a probable Broad-winged Hawk. It was a great day to be outside!
* I was about to take a nice photo of a singing male just as my camera battery died. Curses! Foiled again!
(Shenandoah Mountain trail, May 21)
May 22: There were plenty of highlights from the bird club's morning bird walk led by Penny Warren along Bell's Lane, such as Brown Thrashers and Eastern Phoebes. Later on toward the northeast end of Bell's Lane, after everybody else went home, I saw an Eastern Meadowlark, Baltimore Oriole, Orchard Oriole (1st year male), fledgeling Brown Thrasher, and a Yellow Warbler -- one of two males that I saw fighting! I also spotted a Willow Flycatcher but could not confirm it with a photo or by playing its "fitzbew" song on my iPhone in hopes of inducing a response. That was the only audio playback I used today.
(Bell's Lane, May 22)
May 25: Today I went to the location where two birds that I had not yet seen this year are most likely to be found: Ramsey's Draft, on the west edge of Augusta County. HUGE success!!! Clockwise from top left: Northern Parula (FSOY)*, American Redstart, Blackburnian Warbler (FOY), Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler (eating a worm), and Worm-eating Warbler (not). I also heard but did not see two other warblers: Ovenbird and Louisiana Waterthrush. It was all just wonderful. I'll post non-warbler photos below later on today.
* I had heard one of these at Dowell's Draft a couple weeks ago.
(Ramsey's Draft, May 25)
May 28: Jacqueline and I went for a nice walk along the Mill Place trail in Verona on this nice day, and saw several nice birds. Most notable were an Eastern Kingbird, an American Goldfinch, and a first-year male Orchard Oriole. On the way home we made a couple stops along Bell's Lane and saw a Yellow Warbler, several Brown Thrashers, a Cedar Waxwing, and a Red-tailed Hawk that was being harassed by a Crow (presumably American).
Additional photos and montages, including individual photos of some of the birds in the above montages, will soon become available on the Wild Birds chronological (2024) page.