Crozet, Virginia 6/13/2021

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Old Trail

It was cloudy, warm, and humid this morning. I limited my birding to about half of Western Park here in Old Trail. The park is Albemarle County property and is completely surrounded by the Old Trail community. There are plans to develop the park, even though it is one of the best wildlife habitats in the area. Specifically, I wanted to see if two avian species, Yellow-breasted Chat and Willow Flycatcher were there. I had seen them a couple of weeks ago during the end of spring migration, and assume that if they are sticking around, they might be breeding here this summer. I started off on the plateau just off of Old Trail Drive, as it put me above the treetops of the wetlands area near the community garden where I had seen the Chat. It soon appeared, and even flew up to vegetation along the edge of the plateau where I could get some good close-up photos of it.

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Yellow-breasted Chat

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Yellow-breasted Chat

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Yellow-breasted Chat

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Yellow-breasted Chat

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Yellow-breasted Chat

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Yellow-breasted Chat

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Yellow-breasted Chat

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Yellow-breasted Chat

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Yellow-breasted Chat

I also heard a Yellow Warbler, and saw the first of three or four Common Yellowthroats.

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Common Yellowthroat

I then headed down to the trail along the north end of the soccer field, and saw another Yellow-breasted Chat, and I heard/saw at least two more Common Yellowthroats.

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Yellow-breasted Chat

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Common Yellowthroat

There was a lot of avian activity as I hiked along the edge of the soccer field, and I saw/heard the Willow Flycatcher.

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Willow Flycatcher

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Adult Brown Thrasher (yellow eyes)

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Juvenile Brown Thrasher (pale eyes)

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Red-shouldered Hawk carrying a frog

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Green Heron

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Cedar Waxwing

As I headed back up along the trail towards the Lodge, I heard another Willow Flycatcher. And then I saw a doe that had just given birth to a fawn.

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Doe and fawn

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Doe and fawn

I ended the hike with 25 avian species. Albemarle County is moving ahead with Phase 1A of the Western Park development plan, which is to build playground equipment up on the plateau. Other than the noise from construction and usage when completed, it may not affect the wildlife in the park that much. But even though the additional plans for development are supposed to take into account wildlife habitat, I am seriously concerned about its negative impact on the wildlife in the park.

This morning's list:

Green Heron
Red-shouldered Hawk
Killdeer
Willow Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Yellow-breasted Chat
Brown Thrasher
Tree Swallow
Black Vulture
American Crow
Common Grackle
Turkey Vulture
House Sparrow


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