Crozet, VA 3/22/2022

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Old Trail

As I have been doing for the past few hikes here in Old Trail, I spent most of my time along streams trying to find if any Louisiana Waterthrushes had arrived, but didn't see or hear any. I ended up with 34 avian species, and photographed a couple of interesting birds.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Hermit Thrush

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Ring-necked Ducks

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Wood Duck

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White-throated Sparrow

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House Finch

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Northern Mockingbird

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

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Yellow-rumped Warbler getting its breeding plumage

I saw a pair of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. One was a juvenile and the other an adult male. The adult male had a conspicuous red patch on its nape. We had this discussion a few years ago. About 3% of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have some red on their nape, but the red nape patch is only visible in the field on less than 1% of birds of this species.

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Juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

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Adult male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

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Adult male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker with visible red nape patch

The highlight of the morning for me was an extremely friendly Pine Warbler. Once every few years, I find a Pine Warbler that lets me get very close without getting spooked, and this morning was my best ever encounter with one. This Pine Warbler landed at eye level about 5 feet away from me, and for the next few minutes, flew from branch to branch between my waist and eye levels, sometimes as close as 3 feet away while I took pictures of it. At one point, I extended my index finger with my arm outstretched to see if it would perch on my finger, but I guess it didn't trust me enough to do that.

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

This morning's list:

Wood Duck
Ring-necked Duck
Turkey Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Northern Mockingbird
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Field Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow


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