Deerfield Trail

Description

Elevation: 1939 ft.

Deerfield Trail is a 0.8-mile paved trail that meanders through creekside thickets, open meadows, small ponds, marshy/cattail wetlands, and into maturing second-growth hardwood forest. While birding along this trail is probably optimal during spring and fall migration, it is productive for wildlife watching all year long, and is regularly used by the local community. Permanent residents along wooded forests include great horned and eastern screech-owls, red-tailed hawk, ruffed grouse, white-breasted nuthatch, and pileated woodpecker. In more open areas look for eastern phoebe, song and field sparrows, and American goldfinch. Avian summer residents include white-eyed, red-eyed, and warbling vireos, brown thrasher, wood thrush, blue-gray gnatcatcher, and eastern kingbird. Nesting warbler diversity includes American redstart, common yellowthroat, yellow-breasted chat, ovenbird, and yellow and worm-eating warblers. Other migrant nesting species of this area include northern rough-winged and barn swallows, Baltimore and orchard orioles, whip-poor-will, Chuck-will’s widow, great crested flycatcher, and yellow-billed cuckoo. In spring, look for a large number of migrating warbler species, as well as thrushes such as veery and Swainson’s thrush. Fall migration can produce Nashville and palm warblers, olive-sided flycatcher, and Philadelphia vireo. Mammals may be spied along the trail, as well. Keep an eye out for opossum, beaver, eastern fox, eastern gray, and red squirrels, woodchuck, and coyote. Gray treefrog are likely to be found within the woods, with green and pickerel frogs inhabiting areas closer to the ponds.

Directions

Physical address: 1205 Deerfield Drive, Blacksburg, VA

Coordinates: 37.257 N, 80.442 W

Driving North on 460 West from Price’s Fork intersection, take Tom’s Creek Exit and turn left on Tom’s Creek Road. Drive 1.1 miles to Deerfield Drive on right. Park immediately on either side of road, trail is on the left, following Tom’s Creek.