Bath County

Mourning Warbler, © Matt Felperin

Sandwiched between Alleghany and Highland Counties along the edge of Virginia’s backbone in the Allegheny Mountains, Bath County is one of the most sparsely-settled areas of the state. With a population of just under 4,300, Bath is the second least populous of Virginia’s counties, surpassed only by its neighbor, Highland. Though it has a number of villages and towns, including the county seat at Warm Springs as well as the resort town of Hot Springs, Bath’s lack of even a single stoplight is an enduring testament to its rural charm. Tourism and recreation are huge components of the local economy, and have been since the county’s founding. Its name is derived from the town of Bath in England, a nod to the famous hot springs that are Bath County’s defining feature. These mineral springs, and the spa resorts that have grown up around them, have long been celebrated for their reputed healing and rejuvenating properties. Once upon a time, Bath was home to 22 commercial springs. This number has now shrunk to only two, but the most famous of these remains the Homestead. Founded as a lodge in 1766, and later developed into a European-style spa and healing center by physician Thomas Goode in 1832, the Homestead grew to be a major tourist attraction for wealthy and powerful people from all over the country and abroad. Some of the famous guests have included several presidents, going all the way back to Thomas Jefferson and including luminaries such as Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan. The Homestead was sold in 2013 and renamed The Omni Homestead Resort, but even under this new moniker, its storied past and luxurious accommodations continue to draw visitors, and it is the largest employer in Bath County.

Geographically, Bath is one of the more mountainous regions of Virginia, though its peaks do not reach quite as high as those in Highland. For lovers of wilderness and nature, Bath is a veritable paradise; about 89% of the county is forested land, mostly in the George Washington National Forest with smaller holdings owned by The Nature Conservancy and the state (mainly in Douthat State Park). Even a quick glance at a satellite image of Path with show an almost uniformly forest, mountainous area; the few flatter valleys are narrow, and mostly in the eastern part of the county along streams or rivers. Two main rivers flow north-south through Bath County — the Cowpasture and the Jackson, with a sliver of the Bullpasture River passing through northeastern Bath before it joins the Cowpasture. On Bath’s southern border with Alleghany, the damming of the Jackson River created Lake Moomaw, one of the largest reservoirs in western Virginia. Other large bodies of standing water include a complex of several lakes at the Bath County Pumped Storage Station, a hydroelectric park, as well as a smaller lake at Douthat State Park.

Though less renowned among birders than its northern neighbor, Bath offers many opportunities for the same high-elevation breeders that are found in Highland. It more or less lacks the expansive valleys found there, so open country birds are more difficult (though not impossible) in Bath. On the other hand, the presence of several large bodies of water makes Bath a better place for waterfowl and, to a lesser extent, shorebirds. The top eBird hotspot as of February 2021 is Lake Moomaw, which is shared with Alleghany but lies mostly in Bath. With several vantage points, a curved shape, and many hidden coves, Lake Moomaw can be a challenge to bird. However, under the right conditions it can be very rewarding. It is perhaps the best spot in the county to seek waterfowl, including both dabbling and diving ducks, as well as grebes and loons; even uncommon inland species like Red-necked Grebe, Long-tailed Duck, and Red-breasted Merganser have been reported here, and presumably others such as White-winged Scoter could occur. Gulls are reported here less-frequently, though Ring-billed is semi-regular and Herring or Bonaparte’s turn up occasional. Particularly after weather events, Moomaw can be a good place to look for displaced species like Caspian, Common, or Black Tern, and the right hurricane track could perhaps deposit seabirds. On the opposite end of the county, the lakes at the Bath County Pumped Storage Station can also be good for ducks, though one is entirely inaccessible and the other is very hard to bird due to a lack of suitable vantage points. Below the dam, there are also two smaller lakes which sometimes have waterfowl, but also have good edges for shorebirds. On one occasion, a group of over fifty dowitchers was even seen here! In the valleys, there are also smaller farm ponds such as Mill Gap Pond, which occasionally gets ducks and geese, including notable species such as Snow Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, Tundra Swan, Greater Scaup, and Canvasback. In summer, this pond is also a foraging ground for several species of Swallow including Cliff. Take advantage of opportunities to view the Cowpasture or Jackson Rivers, as both can have breeding Common Mergansers.

One of the most unique birding spots in Bath is the Hidden Valley area of George Washington National Forest. The star attraction here is the Hidden Valley Trail, which traverses a wide Jackson River floodplain that the forest service maintains as a wet, grassy meadow. This unique habitat is a fine place to find birds that prefer wet, low-lying areas; the star attraction here is breeding Alder Flycatchers, but other species including Green Heron, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and Red-winged Blackbird are also common. In migration, the open meadows here sometimes attract Bobolinks, and though no rails have yet been reported to eBird, this would be a fine place for a migrating rail of almost any kind (Black Rail comes to mind!) to drop in. Apart from the meadow, the Hidden Valley area includes a longer series of trails that wind through a variety of habitats, including tangled thickets, a wooded campground, and riparian edges along the Jackson. With this nice mix, the Hidden Valley Trail system is a perfect place to spend a morning during migration, and even uncommon migrants including Cerulean, Mourning, Canada, Blue-winged, and Golden-winged Warbler have been reported here.

In a similar vein, though on a smaller scale than Hidden Valley, Coursey Springs Fish Cultural Station offers a sizable wetland depression and beaver pond as well as wooded banks of the Cowpasture River, all of which is adjacent to a few large agricultural fields. This spot is most celebrated for hosting a Fork-tailed Flycatcher in 2002, but it also has records of locally exciting species including Loggerhead Shrike, Wilson’s Snipe, and King Rail. Any number of common woodland and edge species are possible here, and it is a good spot to try for migrant passerines in spring or fall. Swallows, including Cliff, sometimes forage over this area in summer, and the beaver pond is a good spot for Wood Ducks.

A few other spots merit a mention. Perhaps one of the most well-known spots in Bath County is Paddy Knob, a mountain peak on the VA/WV border that crests at over 4,400 feet and is possibly the most reliable spot to find breeding Mourning Warblers in Virginia. Situated not only on the state border, but on the Bath/Highland border, Paddy Knob is a mess for list-keeping purposes, but most years there is at least one Mourning Warbler territory that is reliably in Bath County. Apart from this star attraction, Paddy Knob is also an excellent spot for other species that breed at high elevations, including Least Flycatcher, Blue-headed Vireo, Black-capped Chickadee, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, alongside a nice roster of warblers highlighted by Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Magnolia, and Canada. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Douthat State Park occupies some of the lowest elevations in Bath along its southern border with Alleghany, providing easy access to a huge forest and extensive trail system. Though some of the high-elevation species are absent, Douthat is still a good place for woodland species such as Broad-winged Hawk, Yellow-throated Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Northern Parula, Hooded Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, and Wood Thrush, among others. Camping overnight here also makes for a good opportunity to hear singing Eastern Whip-poor-wills.

—Matt Anthony

Hotspots

Sources