Warbler Workshop
And
The weather forecast for the week predicted rain and thunderstorms, but thankfully this did not prevent us from having a good day out looking for warblers. We started out at Beaver Lake where we looked at all of the other birds in the sanctuary, as well as searching for migrant warblers. A male Magnolia showed itself fairly well, several Northern Waterthrush flew rapidly around the sanctuary and a few Yellow Warblers sang their rhythmic songs from the willows. We also had excellent views of Eastern Kingbird, Tree Swallow and a blizzard of Gray Catbirds. A late Yellow-rumped Warbler was still passing through along the lake shore.
After lunch and watching the excellent Watching Warblers DVD at my house we sped up into the Blue Ridge to enjoy some of the forest species. The Kentucky Warbler was singing from its normal territory along with several very smart looking Hooded Warblers. A Chestnut-sided Warbler showed very well along with several Cerulean Warblers including the very unusually colored female. By watching her foraging we were lucky to find an almost completed nest about 25’ up in a nearby hickory tree. Because of the very settled weather this spring, we have not had a particularly good northbound warbler migration so our transient species were rather thin on the ground. Aside from that we had a very good day.
Simon Thompson
| Birds | |
| Green Heron -BL | Cedar Waxwing –BL |
| Canada Goose -BL | European Starling -BL |
| Mallard -BL | Yellow-throated Vireo (Heard)-BR |
| Turkey Vulture –BR | Red-eyed Vireo –BR |
| Broad-winged Hawk –BR | Yellow Warbler –BL |
| Red-shouldered Hawk –BL | Chestnut-sided Warbler –BR |
| Solitary Sandpiper -BL | Magnolia Warbler –BL |
| Spotted Sandpiper -BL | Black-throated Blue Warbler (Heard)–BR |
| Mourning Dove –BL | Yellow-rumped Warbler -BL |
| Chimney Swift –BL | Blackburnian Warbler -BR |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird –BL, BR | Cerulean Warbler -BR |
| Downy Woodpecker –BL | Black-and-white Warbler -BR |
| Pileated Woodpecker (Heard) –BR | American Redstart (Heard) –BR |
| Eastern Wood-Pewee (Heard) – BR | Worm-eating Warbler (Heard) BR |
| Eastern Phoebe -BL | Ovenbird (Heard) -BR |
| Eastern Kingbird –BL | Northern Waterthrush –BL |
| Tree Swallow -BL | Kentucky Warbler –BR |
| Blue Jay (Heard) BR | Common Yellowthroat -BL |
| American Crow –BL, BR | Hooded Warbler –BR |
| Northern Raven -BR | Scarlet Tanager –BR |
| Carolina Chickadee (Heard) BL | Northern Cardinal –BL, BR |
| Tufted Titmouse –BL, BR | Indigo Bunting –BR |
| White-breasted Nuthatch –BR | Eastern Towhee –BL, BR |
| Brown-headed Nuthatch -BL | Song Sparrow -BL |
| Carolina Wren –BL, BR | Red-winged Blackbird –BL |
| Eastern Bluebird –BL | Common Grackle - BL |
| American Robin –BL, BR | Orchard Oriole –BL |
| Gray Catbird –BL | American Goldfinch –BL |
| BL= Beaver Lake | BR = Blue Ridge |
| Butterflies | |
| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail | |
| Spicebush Swallowtail | Silver-spotted Skipper |
| Red-spotted Purple | Duskywing sp |
| Red-banded Hairstreak | |