Chestnut-sided Warbler
It was unsually quiet up on Route 610 and the Blue Ridge Parkway. I saw a few species along Route 610, and almost no birds up on the parkway. Bear hunters were running their dogs in the woods along the parkway.
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Eastern Wood-Pewee
I drove down to the Rockfish Valley Trail and saw a total of five birds there.
Gray Catbird
I drove back up to the parkway. It as still quiet, but I did manage to see a small flock of three Blackpoll Warblers.
Blackpoll Warblers
Blackpoll Warblers
I met up with Tink Moyer at the old tower on Route 610. Once again, this road and the parkway were almost devoid of birds, so we drove down to the Rockfish Valley Trail. It was only slightly better there, but we did get one warbler species.
Magnolia Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Phoebe
But the birds had to be somewhere. A birder posted seeing 17 warbler species in the Powhatan State Forest - 60 miles due east from here. Perhaps birding would get better during the next couple of weeks.
September 29It was cloudy up in the mountains and somewhat overcast here in Crozet. I had planned on going over to Lickinghole Creek and Basin, but when I tried closing my garage door, it wouldn't work. By the time I was able to make arrangements for a repairman to come and fix it, it was too late to drive anywhere for birding, so I took a short hike here in Old Trail. It has been a few weeks since I had hiked on the rugged portion of the Lindy Bain Loop Trail that starts at the southeast corner of Old Trail, runs along the east side of Old Trail, then along Lickinghole Creek, and then up to the gravel trail along Western Park. It's a long hike and a bit steep on places. When I got close to the end, the trail was blocked by construction on the retention pond behind the Lodge, and my only two choices were to turn around and hike back, or make my way for about 100 yards through mud, standing water, waist high and thick brush, and a couple of downed trees. I chose to do the latter, but wasn't a happy camper at this point.
Along the way, I saw a Song Sparrow, and hadn't seen one here since the end of spring. Up along Western Park, I saw a few birds flitting about in a tree, and got off a few photos. The first one I saw there was another Song Sparrow, and assumed that the other birds were sparrows as well. When I got home and looked at my photos, I saw that one of the birds was a Palm Warbler and another one was a Cape May Warbler.
Song Sparrow
Palm and Cape May Warblers
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Great Blue Heron
Deer
Monarch
Katydid
It was a beuatiful day for birding, but the garage guy was showing up late morning, so I did a longer hike here in Old Trail. I ended up with 25+ avian species, including 4 warbler species.
Black-throated Green Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Tennessee Warbler