Red-tailed Hawk
Birding here in central Virginia continues to be sparse. Even though I logged 42 avian species over the past few days, the only day I logged 20 or more species in a single day was the last day of this report. I am hoping that the autumnal migration that should get into full swing in about two weeks will bring a lot more birds to this area. With all the summer rain and lush vegetation, there should be plenty of berries and insects for migrating birds to find.
There wasn't much to see on this outing. I saw three Red-tailed Hawks, one American Kestrel, a lone Great Blue Heron, and a few other common species.
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Great Blue Heron
Barn Swallows
Indigo Bunting
Tree Swallow
I did a short hike here in Old Trail, and logged 19 avian species.
Blue Grosbeak
American Goldfinch
Great Blue Heron
The skies cleared, and the temperatures dropped a bit, so I decided to try the first 12 miles of the parkway, with a side trip to Route 610 between mm. 2 and mm. 4 of the parkway. It was really quiet this day, and once again, I logged less than 20 species. I did encounter one active area on Route 610 where I got a quick glimpse of a Cerulean Warbler, photographed a Blackburnian Warbler that I only identified after looking at my photos, and heard the chink call of a Hooded Warbler.
Cerulean Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Red-eyed Vireo
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Downy Woodpecker
American Goldfinch
Today was the best day of my birding during this report period. I got an early start, but there weren't many birds out. However, by about 9:30, avian activity picked up, and I ended my morning hike with 22 avian species, including 3 Blue Grosbeaks, and I heard one of our resident Red-shouldered Hawks calling multiple times from a tree, but was unable to locate it visually. There were lots of juvenile/first year birds out and about.
First year male Blue Grosbeak
First year(?) female Blue Grosbeak
Juvenile Eastern Bluebird
Juvenile Northern Mockingbird
Juvenile Brown Thrasher - note the olive eyes; adults have yellow eyes
Juvenile Brown Thrasher
Juvenile Brown Thrasher
Juvenile Song Sparrow
Orchard Oriole
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
House Sparrow
I saw a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird coming to a third floor feeder at the back of the Lodge. A minute or so later, another hummingbird showed up and both of them flew away. Later in the morning, as I was reviewing my photos, I saw that I had gotten a photo showing one of the hummingbirds as it flew away, and it appeared to have a darker body and rufous tail feathers. This really peaked my curiosity. Could it have been a Rufous Hummingbird?
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Hummingbird
After lunch, I decided to go back and look for the hummingbirds again. As I approached the feeder, I saw my fourth Blue Grosbeak of the day. This one was a male that I have been seeing in that area for a couple of weeks.
Blue Grosbeak
And then the female Ruby-throated Hummingbird came to the third floor feeder.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
A few minutes later, a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird came to this feeder. Note the darker body than that of the female.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
I suspect that the morning hummingbird with the rufous-looking tail feathers was most likely a male Ruby-throated, and the sunlight angle made its tail look rufous in color. However, I don't see the dark male gorget (throat) feathers on the hummingbird with the rufous-looking tail.
My four day avian list:
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cerulean Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Orchard Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow