Central Virginia 10/2-4/16

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Old Trail, Crozet; October 2

Alice and I went for an afternoon walk in some of the built-up areas of Old Trail. There were a few warblers in some of the small trees.

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Cape May Warbler

We turned onto Old Trail Drive, and I heard a Red-shouldered Hawk calling, and then saw one perched in a distant tree.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

I then heard another Red-shouldered Hawk calling from a different direction, and crows that were harassing it. I looked up and saw an adult Red-shouldered Hawk and a juvenile being chased by a small flock of crows.

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Red-shouldered Hawks

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Red-shouldered Hawk

A short time later, I took another hike on some of the trails here, and saw a few more warblers and other woodland species.

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Magnolia Warbler, Northern Parula, American Redstart

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Gray Catbird

Shenandoah Valley; October 3

I met up with Walt Childs at the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch. We saw a fairly close approach of a Broad-winged Hawk there, and then saw a female Northern Harrier circling over the fields in Stuart's Draft.

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Broad-winged Hawk

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Northern Harrier

Walt and I drove over to Swoope, and saw a Cooper's Hawk on the way there. We stopped on Hewitt Road in Swoope to get some good views of a Belted Kingfisher and an Eastern Bluebird catching a meal.

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Belted Kingfisher

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Eastern Bluebird

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Eastern Bluebird

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Eastern Bluebird

Turkey Vultures were flying about, and a Bald Eagle was near them. We saw several American Kestrels flying from the power lines.

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Bald Eagle

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American Kestrel

We saw a Great Egret at Smith Lake, and several warbler species in the area: Palm, Common Yellowthroat, Black and White, and American Redstart, as well as a variety of woodland birds, including five woodpecker species: Downy, Hairy, Northern Flicker, Red-bellied, and Red-headed.

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Great Egret

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Palm Warbler

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Common Yellowthroat, Black and White Warbler

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Northern Flicker

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Male and female Hairy Woodpeckers checking out a tree cavity

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Red-headed Woodpecker

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Male and female Eastern Towhees

We saw another Northern Harrier as well as several Red-tailed Hawks

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Red-tailed Hawks

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Red-tailed Hawk

The sky was getting dark and there was light drizzle, so we returned to the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch where we saw another Cooper's Hawk, another Northern Harrier, some Kestrels and at least one Merlin, an Osprey, a Yellow Warbler, and a bear on the other side of Interstate-64.

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Osprey

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Bear

Old Trail, Crozet; October 4

I decided to hike here at Old Trail, and about a mile into my hike, I met up with a small group from the Monticello Bird Club, and we hiked together for a couple of hours. We saw several warbler species, a Swainson's Thrush, and my FOS Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I also heard (on two occasions), a Pileated Woodpecker - all seven central Virginia woodpeckers in less than 24 hours!

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Unidentified warbler - probably a Blackpoll given its short tail and undertail pattern

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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

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Swainson's Thrush

But the highlight of the morning was a pair of Yellow-billed Cuckoos. One of them was hunting and then feeding the other one.

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Yellow-billed Cuckoo

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Yellow-billed Cuckoo

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Yellow-billed Cuckoos

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Yellow-billed Cuckoos

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Yellow-billed Cuckoos


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