Fort Witten

Tammy and I were wandering around Tazewell County looking for a good place to bird watch, but we had not done any research beforehand. We ended up settling for Fort Witten, also known as Historic Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park, as our destination.

It turns out that this spot is located on the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail. The website maintained by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries does not make it at all easy to figure this out, but I will save that rant for another day.

So, here we were at this nice little park. It has been set up with several restored and reconstructed buildings that provide a nice glimpse into how people lived in the 1800's. It is a very nice place with gravel walkways and manicured grass and fences and a nice little brook running through the middle. There were a few birds to be seen there, but mostly what I would consider "back yard birds". I did manage to find a pair of Black-billed Cuckoo along the edge of the place in some trees. That was the first time I had ever seen that species (finally!), so the bird watching was instantly declared a success. Despite the cuckoos, I did wonder about the criteria that was used to officially put places on the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail. I will ponder that thought some more, and maybe a blog post will be born.

Now for the pictures. In the eaves of one of the historical buildings I found an American Robin firmly attached to a nest. No...I did not try to shake her loose, but she did not flinch or fly away as I stood directly under her with my camera. The second picture is of that nice little brook I mentioned above.