Rockfish Valley Trail 9/28/11

After yesterday's warblers in Stoney Creek, could today be a better birding day?? I got to the trail a bit earlier than usual (8:20 a.m.), so I headed upstream first as I knew that the Glenthorne Loop trail would still be in shadow. By the time I walked to the park benches and back to the kiosk in 20 minutes, I had already logged 16 species. Little did I know that there were 19 more species to see on the trail this morning.

On the downstream trail I saw two firsts for this season, a Palm Warbler and a Savannah Sparrow. Then a Black-throated Green Warbler flew overhead.

The highlight of the morning for me came on the Glenthorne Loop trail after I had already hiked all the way to the second wooden bridge and was hiking around the bog area when I saw warblers. I got a glimpse of a Magnolia Warbler and enough of a photo to positively identify it, and then a Common Yellowthroat was sitting in plain sight on some branches. There were two many nearby branches for my camera to autofocus, and by the time I switched to manual focus it had gone. However, I was promptly rewarded - I have been trying for four years to get a better photo of a Northern Parula Warbler, and one came out right in front of me to say hello. Cross that one off my to-do list! A minute later I was close to a Least Flycatcher, and I ended my two hour hike watching an Eastern Wood-Pewee have a snack.

Eastern Bluebirds

Savannah Sparrow

Palm Warbler

Palm Warbler

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Black-throated Green Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Northern Parula

Northern Parula

Northern Parula

Northern Parula

Least Flycatcher

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Eastern Wood-Pewee