July is now half over and it has been extremely wet with rain on most days. We have had almost nine inches of rain so far with more rain in the forecast. Even if no more rain occurred for the month we would still be at the fourth wettest July on record here. Despite the less than ideal conditions I have still found a total of 132 species for the month in Hampshire County, which is the highest total I have ever had for the half way point of July. Today was one of the only sunny days we have had lately and I spent a few hours after work in Williamsburg tracking down local breeders. Among the highlights were three species of wren, ten species of warblers (more on warblers for July at the following link) and a Scarlet Tanager adult male feeding a freshly fledged juvenile. On my way to work yesterday I made brief stops to check on a few continued rarities and found at least one Purple Martin still present at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River as well as a pair of Blue Grosbeaks continuing to bring food to a nest at the Honey Pot.
The cameras at home are a bit more quiet now but I have still been capturing some activity.
