Crozet, VA 10/9/2020

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Old Trail

The BirdCast radar showed good migration overnight. But most of the migrating warblers and Broad-winged Hawks have already moved through here, and I wondered if sparrows were on the move. I've only seen the numerous House Sparrows all summer long here in Old Trail, along with a few Chipping Sparrows. A few Song Sparrows have been here for a couple of weeks, and I saw a Field Sparrow at Lickinghole Creek Reservoir yesterday. But I needed to stay at home for part of the morning, and didn't make it out to go birding until 10:15. I started off at the golf course pond, and when I got up on the trail near the golf course, the tall vegetation was loaded with sparrows and a few Yellow-rumped Warblers. I thought that I got a quick look at a Lincoln's Sparrow and a Tennessee Warbler, but they disappeared so quickly that I couldn't confirm my sightings.

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Yellow-rumped Warblers

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White-throated Sparrow

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Song Sparrow

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Cedar Waxwing

As I hiked back along the golf course pond, I saw my first-of-season Swamp Sparrow - one of my favorite sparrow species.

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Swamp Sparrow

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Swamp Sparrow

I was up to 15 avian species for the morning at this point, and then went over to the wetlands in Western Park. House Sparrows hang out by the lodge, and a bunch of them were there as usual.

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House Sparrows

I hiked the trail down into the wetlands, and as soon as I got to the bottom, my target sparrow species, Lincoln's, was right in front of me. I haven't seen one since last October, and that one was also on the same area. They are only here for a few weeks before they move on. I've only seen them between late September through early November here in central Virginia. There were two more Swamp Sparrows nearby.

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Lincoln's Sparrow

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Lincoln's Sparrow

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Lincoln's Sparrow

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Lincoln's Sparrow

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Swamp Sparrow

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Swamp Sparrow

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Song Sparrow

I saw a "crazy" Great Blue Heron up on the plateau above the wetlands. It was stalking along the edge as if it were fishing at one of the ponds. It let me get very close, and I tried to tell it that there weren't any fish in the grasses and to go to one of the ponds, but it wouldn't listen to my instructions.

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Great Blue Heron

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Great Blue Heron

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Great Blue Heron

I then hiked down to the soccer field, and looked for White-crowned and Field Sparrows where they are often found during the late fall through early spring, but didn't see any of these species there. So I headed over to the trail along Slabtown Branch Creek, where I saw more Song and White-throated Sparrows, an Eastern Towhee giving me 6 sparrow species for the morning, and three more warbler species. I ended my hike with 29 avian species.

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White-throated Sparrow

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Song Sparrow

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Eastern Towhee

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

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Blackpoll Warbler

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Blackpoll Warbler

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Black-throated Blue Warbler

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Tennessee Warbler

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Tennessee Warbler

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Tennessee Warbler

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Tennessee Warbler

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Tennessee Warbler

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Silvery Checkerspot


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