A Dismal Spring Day

Yesterday, my wife and I enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather here in SE Virginia by looking for spring migrants at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Dismal Swamp is a great place to catch some early migrants, especially warblers. While I'm sure there are plenty of migrants later in spring, once the dense trees fully leave out, there's no hope of seeing anything much. We try to time our annual visit to when the early wave of warblers are coming through and the leaves aren't too dense. 

We often times start at Jericho ditch with the mistaken belief that this is the year we will actually see a Swainson's warbler. The Swamp is one of the best locations in Virginia to find this skulking warbler that allaboutbirds.com says "tends to remain frustratingly hidden in the understory." While others have heard it at Jericho Ditch on a few guided walks we have taken, we've never comfortably identified the song nor come close to seeing one. This year my wife suggested forgoing that annual disappointment and go to Washington Ditch boardwalk which we usually prefer for the rest of the birds. 

Even in mid-April the trees were well leafed out so we started with a lot of songs and no sightings. After some searching we ended up finding a group of yellow-rump warblers, actually late leaving this area, not early arrivals. Since they are winter birds here, their song is always a bit confusing. Further down the road we heard a northern bobwhite calling. A great find as populations have plummeted around here and most of the country. I'll go out on a limb and say it will likely be the only one we hear this year. It's a personal favorite of ours so an exciting bird to find. 

This blue grosbeak was actively feeding low and close to the road giving the opportunity for some good photos. 

As we started the boardwalk we heard a pair of wood thrushes singing back and forth. One was close to the boardwalk and eventually, easy to see.  Shortly after we started down the boardwalk, my wife remembered something she left at the car and returned to retrieve it. I stayed and tried to find some of the birds singing. I was using the Merlin app to help identify the sounds. It works really well, especially to put a name to a familiar song. But here was one that I wasn't quite sure about. Maybe a Swainson's? But probably not. We never really find them. But no, Merlin confirmed; it too heard a Swainson's warbler. We continued down the boardwalk listening to the song get louder and louder. Finally, it had to be right there close. And pop, the bird hopped up to a branch about 10 feet off the ground and 20 feet away. And it sat there and put on quite a show. We were able to get excellent looks as it sat there and sang. It moved a few times just a tree or two for about ten minutes. Finally, it hopped down onto the ground and disappeared behind some trees and fallen limbs. Singing the whole time. 

The real glory at Washington Ditch is the number of prothonotary warblers that nest there. I even have a picture of one nesting in a hollow about a foot off the railing at waist height. While none were that close this time, they were out in force. We never went more than a minute or two without sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet ringing out. 

As the morning wore on birds were fewer and further between. But there are also a lot of great native plants in the swamp. As my wife pointed out, good to see a bunch of aggressive plants that aren't invasive. 

The greenbrier (Smilax) and coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) were blooming.

There were also several large, flying insects. Zebra and tiger swallowtails are common. We also saw a viceroy (might be the first one I've recognized in the wild).

There was also this beautiful ebony jewelwing damselfly.

Overall, a great day with some exciting and unexpected birds and lots of engaging nature.

Busy Morning

 This morning was a busy morning at the bird feeder. It is cold, just above freezing and not expecting to get any warmer today, but sunny. Around 9:00 the birds started showing up and we had a wide variety and several of the most beautiful ones we have were putting on quite the show. in about thirty minutes we had 22 species including four species of woodpeckers, several sparrow species, three warblers, and lost tanager. My wife first saw the Western Tanager early this week. I was working at the time and missed the first sighting. And then the second and even third sighting. Finally, a day later I was able to see it. Then we went a couple of days of not seeing it. It doesn't seem to have a regular cycle yet so we were happy to see it come back this morning and it showed off for several minutes.

We have a lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers throughout the winter and usually one or two Pine Warblers hanging out. This Orange-crowned Warbler is a infrequent visitor.

And this morning we had a lot of Eastern Bluebirds at the feeder. It is not uncommon to see a couple of them around but usually far back in the yard or on the edge of the marsh. So 5 at the feeder is quite the sight. We loved the variation in blue between the male and female. Her blue was such a wonderful sky blue. And note the Pine Warbler that decides it wants in the photo action too.

(Lots) More Butterflies

 This past week my wife and I were up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We stayed in a cabin part way up the mountain near "Warbler Road." Warbler Road is a group of gravel roads leading from the James River up to Sunset Fields on the Blue Ridge Parkway and is well known for the diverse birding, especially northern warblers and other song birds found at the higher elevations. Finding a cabin so close to the start of Warbler Road made morning birding easier. However, that is a slow way to get to and from the parkway. I had noticed that the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail book recommended taking another gravel road back to the parkway after reaching the bottom instead of heading out to the interstate. That road was right next to our cabin so we gave it a try and it was a beautiful and relaxing drive. A little slow but not as windy or treacherous as the main road and it avoided the interstate. Plus, it was about 10 minutes quicker. 

  On the first trip up, my wife noticed several wild flowers on the side the road and it was easy to pull over and investigate (we passed 2 cars in the three trips along the entire length). One that was particularly interesting is this four-leaved milkweed (Asclepias quadrifolia). 

It has been a dry May throughout Virginia but that partially brought one day when a few afternoon storms built up. We largely stayed dry and the roads quickly dried out. But on the drive back to the cabin we saw a kaleidoscope of butterflies (yes, that seems to be the accepted group name, I looked it up on the all-knowing Internet). We think that the rain must of brought some minerals up to the surface and they were all drinking them in. It was a striking sight with nearly twenty tiger swallowtails all grouped together. As we stood there, a few started flying around but the rest largely ignored us. And then a truck drove by and flushed them all up into the air. It was a serendipitous find that I won't soon forget.

Happy Butterflying!