I was hoping to see some warblers on the trail this morning, but only saw one at the end of my hike. It was fairly quiet when I arrived at 8:15, but a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk was hunting at several locations on the trail, so I guess that many of the smaller birds were in hiding. There were lots of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Field Sparrows, and I ended up with 21 species.
Here's this morning's list of species:
Indigo Bunting American Crow Field Sparrow Ruby-throated Hummingbird Northern Cardinal Red-shouldered Hawk American Goldfinch Cedar Waxwing Rock Pigeon Carolina Chickadee Carolina Wren Tufted Titmouse Turkey Vulture Catbird White-eyed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay Cape May(?) Warbler |
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-eyed Vireo
Northern Cardinal
Cape May(?) Warbler
Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk
Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk
One of the advantages of the Rockfish Valley Trail is that not too many people are on it. One of the disadvantages of the Rockfish Valley Trail is that not too many people are on it, and I am often the one who gets spider web in my face as I walk between bushes on the trail. I try to knock them down with my camera monopod when I see them, but am not always successful. I walked through one this morning, and as I was pulling web off of my face, I glanced down and saw a one inch spider crawling on the neck strap of my camera about two inches from my face. I quickly, but not in a panic, removed the camera from around my neck, shook off the spider, and took its photo - a marbled orbweaver (Araneus marmoreus) - very interesting, but not something I wanted crawling on my neck!
Marbled orbweaver