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Future Trips​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Trip to Back Bay NWR

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Saturday, April 25, 2026

Start: 7:00 AM

Leader: James Abbott jaa3469@gmail.com          757-320-9191 (text or phone)​​​​

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Our April field trip will be on Saturday the 25th at Back Bay NWR in Virginia Beach. We will be looking for spring migrants and shorebirds on the various trails and impoundments. We will meet at the refuge visitor center (4005 Sandpiper Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23456) at 7:00am. The $5.00 per vehicle fee is in effect. 

 

We will walk the short Raptor and Kuralt trails around the center before heading down the West Dike Trail to C Pool. We will probably do around 3.5 total miles of walking on trails during the trip.

 

As always reach out to me with questions at jaa3469@gmail.com and you can call or text at 7573209191

 

Sincerely,

James Abbott

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Trip to western VA mountains

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Late May 29-31, 2026

Start: TBD

Leader: James Abbott jaa3469@gmail.com          757-320-9191 (text or phone)

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This year in May we will be holding our first Mountain Birding Weekend. We will be visiting 3 premier birding locations each with different target species. We will visit sites in Highland County, VA targeting rare breeders such as Golden Winged Warbler, Alder and Least Flycatchers, Black Billed Cuckoo and Magnolia Warbler. We will ride up to Briery Branch Gap and Reddish Knob which are the breeding locations of Veery, Blackburnian Warbler, Red Crossbill, and Mourning Warbler. Finally, we will drive down Warbler Road which is a series of gravel roads that drops from the Blue Ridge down to the James River and is legendary for Cerulean and Canada Warbler.

 

Our central location will be the Staunton area where we will be staying and gathering to carpool etc. There are a couple different ways we can schedule this weekend. One site per day, Friday, Saturday, Sunday; or we can do Highland and Briery on Saturday and Warbler Road on Sunday. I am planning to be up there starting on Thursday evening but I am flexible with what works best for participants. If participation is high we will break into multiple groups and rotate through sites because none of them are suitable for very large groups.

 

The mornings will be early and the days long but there will be plenty of birds to make up for it.

 

If you are interested in joining this trip please email me and indicate which itinerary you prefer. This will help me with planning.

 

Sincerely,

James Abbott