Yesterday, for the fifth time on this trip, we’ve turned up at a large water-body to basically find just one duck! On this occasion it was Plum Orchard Lake WMA and Red-breasted Merganser, a female – no other ducks present. Previous encounters have involved White-winged Scoter, Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead and Lesser Scaup. These ducks have all been out of breeding range – their northward migration paused by something. All birds appeared to be healthy and happy. Other highlights of the day, and there were many, included a couple more vireos and an exceptional warbler. We’d begun the day at Little Beaver State Park with another nature trail around a pond – we’ll actually large reservoir. Here we saw a few more migrants and several lovely Blue-headed Vireo. Also of note were a Cliff Swallow and a secretive Wood Duck, on the approach to the park. Coffee break (without the coffee!) was taken beside the highly productive Paint Creek where, from the observation deck over the river we saw Eastern Wood Pewee, Louisiana Waterthrush, Hooded Warbler and our first Black-capped Chickadee – their range extends south down the finger of the Appalachian Mountains. Our final stop was at Plum Orchard Lake and what a hot-spot that turned out to be. Three vireo species virtually side by side – Red-eyed, Blue-headed and Yellow-throated, a stunning Wood Thrush and a must-get warbler Cerulean – we had a couple at the picnic site where we had lunch. They were tricky birds – mostly remaining high up in the leafy tree canopy – but we did eventually get reasonable views. Today we continue north towards Ohio and our rendezvous with Neil & Nicola and Phil & Carolyn for the gathering of Biggest Week in American Birding festival at Black Swamp Bird Observatory. A bucket-list event for many birders.

Things are on the move – and not just us! Every birder we’ve spoken to since we arrived in Florida has commented on how slow Spring migration is this year. On Dry Tortugas people were suggesting that they were around three weeks behind. Certainly since then we’ve struggled to identify birds which appear to be migrants rather than resident / wintering populations – particularly warblers. Yesterday, at a couple of sites in Virginia / West Virginia, we may have witnessed some signs of migration. We started at Lake Robertson, where a short nature trail takes you through mixed woodland around an artificial lake. First bird we found in the carpark was a singing Louisiana Waterthrush – one of the earliest of the highly migratory New World ‘warblers’. Along the trail we also came across Scarlet Tanager and Yellow-rumped Warbler. In the afternoon we took the Top Drive along the ridge of the Allegheny Mountains – with views of the more famous Blue Ridge Mountains. At around 3000 feet temperatures were down to 6 deg C. which, with wind chill added into the equation, meant it was pretty damn cold. I may need to review my shorts-wearing policy! Anyway, here we found more ‘warblers’ – American Redstart, Oven Bird, Black and White, Black-throated Green, Hooded and Worm-eating Warbler. Hopefully an indication that the east coast Spring migration is finally happening. Let’s hope so as we are now less than a week away from the big warbler fest in Ohio!

This was our first day together birding with Bob & Sue and Andy so we decided to stay local. We birded a town park and reservoir near Collinsville and a nature trail, created as part of an industrial park, on our way north to our next overnight stop at Covington (more of that later). In all we saw over 50 species and added half a dozen new birds to our overall GABRaT ll list including: Eastern Phoebe, Lesser Scaup – probably the biggest surprise and, along with Pied-billed Grebe, the only two birds on the entire reservoir – White-breasted Nuthatch, Baltimore Oriole, American Goldfinch and Raven. After a great days birding we were looking forward to a relaxing evening at our lodgings – unfortunately the Quality Inn was anything but! It was truly awful and we checked out and found a new temporary residence. Moral of the story – don’t believe all you read on Trip Advisor! Still the evening meal in the nearby Mexican restaurant was excellent.