6 young birders showed up for the annual Highland summer field trip. Each year, we head into Highland county, a the least populated county in the state. This is a great spot for birding in summer, and we search for Golden-winged and Mourning Warblers, Alder Flycatchers and Black-billed Cuckoos that breed in the mountains and the Blue Grass Valley. Our first stop was Paddy Knob, a road that goes up into the mountains at the Virginia/West Virginia border. As we were driving, we heard a Mourning Warbler singing. We got out and were able to locate it. We continued up the road seeing/hearing Least Flycatcher, Dark-eyed Junco, and several warbler species including Chestnut-sided, Blackburnian and Worm-eating. We drove up some more and got out. We walked some more, eventually seeing three more Mourning Warblers.
Our second stop was the trout hatchery in Monterey. As we got out of the car, two Spotted Sandpipers flew off. A Bald Eagle soared overhead. We walked around the hatchery some more before heading back to the car.
We arrived at the bridge at Forks of Water, where we saw a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a Belted Kingfisher. We continued into Blue Grass Valley. We stopped at a barn off Wimer Mountain Road and scanned the swallows for Cliff. We soon found a group sitting on the wire. We continued down the road to the Golden-winged Warbler spot. We got out and searched for them, but did not have them where we'd seen them in previous years. We drove farther up the road into West Virginia to the O'Bryan property. We walked down the trail, and spotted a Golden-winged Warbler. We watched it until it dropped down into a lower tree and we couldn't see it anymore. We walked back to the cars and headed back down the road. We got out at the usual spot again, where we saw a Golden-winged Warbler fly by. We drove down Hardscrabble Road to look for Bobolinks, and ended up seeing 4 of them.
We drove out of the Blue Grass Valley to Straight Fork. Alder Flycatchers breed here, and they are difficult to see away from this spot. We heard two Alders singing. We also looked for dragonflies, and saw several species.
We headed to the Canada Warbler spot, and it didn't take us long to see one. Our final stop was Allegheny Road, where we looked for Black-billed Cuckoos, but had no luck. We headed back home. It was a good day of birding in Highland, and we saw most of our target species.
by Ira Lianez
Our second stop was the trout hatchery in Monterey. As we got out of the car, two Spotted Sandpipers flew off. A Bald Eagle soared overhead. We walked around the hatchery some more before heading back to the car.
We arrived at the bridge at Forks of Water, where we saw a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a Belted Kingfisher. We continued into Blue Grass Valley. We stopped at a barn off Wimer Mountain Road and scanned the swallows for Cliff. We soon found a group sitting on the wire. We continued down the road to the Golden-winged Warbler spot. We got out and searched for them, but did not have them where we'd seen them in previous years. We drove farther up the road into West Virginia to the O'Bryan property. We walked down the trail, and spotted a Golden-winged Warbler. We watched it until it dropped down into a lower tree and we couldn't see it anymore. We walked back to the cars and headed back down the road. We got out at the usual spot again, where we saw a Golden-winged Warbler fly by. We drove down Hardscrabble Road to look for Bobolinks, and ended up seeing 4 of them.
We drove out of the Blue Grass Valley to Straight Fork. Alder Flycatchers breed here, and they are difficult to see away from this spot. We heard two Alders singing. We also looked for dragonflies, and saw several species.
We headed to the Canada Warbler spot, and it didn't take us long to see one. Our final stop was Allegheny Road, where we looked for Black-billed Cuckoos, but had no luck. We headed back home. It was a good day of birding in Highland, and we saw most of our target species.
by Ira Lianez
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