Family Week

For one whole week I relaxed with the family and enjoyed what birds there were around our rental house in Wintergreen VA.  It was a nice place perched atop Devil's Knob at an elevation above 3000 feet.  There were relatively few birds during the week since it was the middle of the summer and it was really hot.  We took some excursions to nearby places like Crabtree Falls (photo) and the St. Mary's River natural area.  But most of the time was spent visiting, eating good food, and relaxing.  The baseball Cardinals got on a win streak, sweeping the Phillies and the Dodgers and are now back in first place in the NL Central.  On the bird front an Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush popped up near Spearfish SD.  This is only the third ABA area record for this species and this sighting is WAY north of the other two.  I made plans to stop off and try for it next week on my way to a CA pelagic.  I hope it lasts that long.  A Western Spindalis in FL and a Little Egret in CT didn't hold up, so I won't be chasing either of those birds.