Central Virginia 10/1-3/2021

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

This has been a poor autumn season for watching warblers migrating through central Virginia. These birds have been on the move, but from the reports I have read, most of the warblers have been migrating through central Virginia closer to the coast, and migrating warblers at my usual sites in the Blue Ridge Mountains have been few and far between.

October 1

I met up with Tink Moyer at the old tower on Route 610, but it was fairly quiet, so we tried birding up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was quiet up there as well. We did see a few avian species, but only one warbler species - a Black and White, and it was gone before I could get any photos. We did see two bears run across the parkway.

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Scarlet Tanager

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

We got back onto Route 610, and I got a quick look at one warbler.I'm firaly certain that it was a first fall Nashville Warbler (my 42nd warbler species photographed in 2021). It might be a Common Yellowthroat, but its body shape, orangish wash on upper breast, and dark legs point to Nashville.

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Nashville Warbler

October 3

With few warblers up in the mountains, I decided to look for them here in Crozet along Lickinghole Creek and Basin, and the adjacent Crozet Connector Trail. Although there were quite a few walkers, talkers, and joggers, I did manage to log 23 avian species, including 6 warbler species. The warblers were fairly well spaced apart, and there might have been more of them, but almost every time I looked to birds that might have been warblers, someone walked or ran by and scared the birds away. It was unusually hot and muggy for an October morning.

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Great Egrets

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Great Blue Heron

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House Wren

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Downy Woodpecker

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Red-bellied Woodpecker

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Northern Mockingbird

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Arrowhead Spider

Five of the warbler species were along or near the basin.

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Magnolia Warbler

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Magnolia Warbler

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Black and White Warbler

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Black and White Warbler

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Black and White Warbler

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Black and White Warbler

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Black and White Warbler

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Tennessee Warbler

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Tennessee Warbler

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Tennessee Warbler

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Northern Parula

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Northern Parula

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

I saw a Black-throated Green Warbler along the Crozet Connector Trail, as well as my second Magnolia Warbler of the morning.

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Magnolia Warbler

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Magnolia Warbler

This might be the end of my autumn 2021 warbler search, as the forecast is for rain every day for the next seven days. But I haven't given up hope yet. Some of the late season migrating warblers are still here when the Yellow-rumped Warblers start showing up for the winter, and I haven't seen any Yellow-rumps yet.


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