Road Trip Birding

Spring Birding at its Finest

Black-billed Cuckoo by Simon Thompson

Cranberry Glades, West Virginia

June 3-7, 2023

Red Crossbills by Ventures Birding

Your place on this Venture is reserved when your completed registration form and deposit of $300 per person has been received. Deposit may be made via the ‘book now’ button above, or by contacting the Ventures office. We accept credit cards for an additional fee (2.9% for MC, Visa, Discover; 3.9% for AmEx), but you may also pay by bank transfer, cash, check, or money order (payable to ‘VENTURES BIRDING’) sent to PO Box 1095, Skyland, NC 28776. This Venture is limited to 8 participants.

Cost of the West Virginia Venture $1475 per person from Lewisburg, WV, based on double occupancy ($325 Single Supplement) Price includes: All accommodations, all meals, entry fees, taxes, trip packets, birdlist & guide/leader service. Not included: Transportation, alcoholic beverages, gratuities, laundry and other items of a personal nature.

This driving trip to West Virginia has been designed as part of our new “Road Trip America” series – where we independently drive to our destination, birding along the way. Leaving from Asheville, NC we will also wend our way through several West Virginia counties stopping to see what we can find and hitting good local birding spots along the way.

In the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, there is a unique ecological area known as Cranberry Glades. The Cranberry Glades Botanical Area consists of four bogs whose flora and fauna are similar to that of the bogs or “muskegs” usually found in the northern areas of the US and in Canada. A remnant of the advancing and retreating glaciation of the Ice Ages, the Cranberry Glades are now the southern-most point in North America where this habitat and its associated life forms are found. Two of the bogs are accessible by boardwalk, affording close-up views of the unusual plants (including carnivorous species) and the birds that prefer this specialized environment. In addition to the Glades, we will spend time walking and birding sections of the Greenbrier Hike & Bike Trail in the lovely Greenbrier Valley. Depending on how the birding is going, we will amend or itinerary and visit different locations in the area, such as Beartown State Park and Hills Creek Falls.

Some of the Birds We Hope to See

Wild Turkey, Broad-winged Hawk, Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos, Acadian & Least Flycatchers, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Hermit, Wood & Swainson’s Thrushes, Veery, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Blue-headed Vireo, Mourning, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue and Palm Warblers, Northern Waterthrush, Ovenbird, Red Crossbill and many more