Central Virginia 9/24-26/2021

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

The BirdCast radar has been showing good migration through Virginia each night, but the birds don't seem to have stopped where I have been birding in the mornings!

September 24

I got an early start this morning, but it didn't do much for me. When I got to Route 610 a little after 8 a.m., it was too dark for birding with the low sun angle and dense tree cover. I heard a few birds but couldn't see them. So I decided to try the Blue Ridge Parkway. I was not happy when I saw about a dozen bear hunters running their dogs right along the cirque - my favorite warbler site up there. They can't hunt in the national forest, but they can train their dogs to run with GPS collars. I continued all the way down to Three Ridges Overlook, but only saw a few avian species.

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3 Hairy Woodpeckers

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Red-eyed Vireos

I returned to Route 610, and this time saw three warbler species and a few other birds.

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Northern Parula

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Northern Parula

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Northern Parula

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Chestnut-sided Warbler

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Chestnut-sided Warbler

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Common Yellowthroat

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Common Yellowthroat

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Common Yellowthroat

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Wood Thrush

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Swainson's Thrush

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Indigo Bunting

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Eastern Towhee

I then did some birding at Ridgeview Park, but didn't see any species worth reporting. On my return, I tried along Route 610 again, but it was quiet, except for a bear that ran across the road in front of me.

September 25

I tried Route 610 this morning, but it was really quiet. I only saw one warbler species. I tried the parkway before the weekend traffic got heavy, but only saw a few birds there.

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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American Goldfinch

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Carolina Chickadee

September 26

I started off on the parkway and Route 610, but there were very few birds. I only had 7 or 8 avian species, and not a single warbler. I then drove over to Lickinghole Creek and Basin. I got there at 11:00 a..m., and it was really quiet. I hiked along the creek and then to the far end of the basin, and saw/heard very few birds. I saw a flycatcher that was probably a Pewee, but it had a fairly bold eye-ring, and I did not hear it singing.

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Pair of Great Egrets

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Great Blue Heron

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Flycatcher

South of the basin and before the turn along the creek, I stopped when I saw two warblers. One of them was a Common Yellowthroat.

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Common Yellowthroat

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Common Yellowthroat

The other one may have been a Common Yellowthroat, but its split eye-ring makes me think a fall plumaged Mourning Warbler (would be my 42 warbler species photographed in 2021). Comments?

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Common Yellowthroat(?) or Mourning Warbler(?)

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Common Yellowthroat(?) or Mourning Warbler(?)

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Common Yellowthroat(?) or Mourning Warbler(?)

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Common Yellowthroat(?) or Mourning Warbler(?)

I continued on the Crozet Connector Trail, and in the field, thought I had an Organe-crowned Warbler - split eye-ring, yellow undertail coverts, and blurry breast streaking. But after processing the photos, there isn't much of a split eye-ring, there's not much yellow in its underside, and the blurry breast streaking looks to be ruffled breast feathers, so I think that it was another Common Yellowthroat.

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Common Yellowthroat

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Common Yellowthroat

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Common Yellowthroat

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Common Yellowthroat

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Common Yellowthroat

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Common Yellowthroat


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