It was an unusual and interesting morning on the trail. I arrived a little after 8:30 under bright and sunny skies, and was greeted by an American Kestrel at the end of the fenced field on the upstream trail.
American Kestrel
At the end of the fenced field on the downstream trail, I saw two usual sparrows near where I had seen Savannah and Grasshopper Sparrows last week. The first one is a tough one for me to identify. It has characteristics of Lincoln's and Swamp Sparrows, but its central breast spot, notched tail, and yellow lores leads me to believe that it is a reddish adult Savannah Sparrow. Compare it to the Swamp Sparrows I photographed this morning on the Glenthorne Loop trail. The other nearby sparrow also appears to be a Savannah Sparrow, but is lacking yellow in its lores. Other opinions are appreciated. [10/19/11 update: general concensus is that the first of the two sparrows is a Swamp Sparrow, and the second one is a Vesper Sparrow.]
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Soon after 9:00 there was almost complete cloud cover, and avian activity really died down, but picked up again around 10:00 when most of the clouds had gone. I was surprised to see four warbler species, including a late season Tennessee Warbler [10/20/11 update - it is a female Black-throated Blue Warbler], and an extremely late date Magnolia Warbler.
Magnolia Warbler
Tennessee Warbler [10/20/11 update - female Black-throated Blue Warbler]
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
A female Belted Kingfisher and a Great Blue Heron put on a good show for me.
Female Belted Kingfisher
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron
This morning's list (29 species):
American Crow Starling Turkey Vulture Eastern Phoebe Eastern Bluebird Blue Jay Cedar Waxwing Belted Kingfisher Great Blue Heron Field Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Carolina Chickadee Carolina Wren Tufted Titmouse Northern Mockingbird Red-bellied Woodpecker American Goldfinch Northern Cardinal American Kestrel Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Palm Warbler Magnolia Warbler |