Rockfish Valley Trail 3/9/12

All photos are © Marshall Faintich


The complete, but thin, cloud cover with a temperature in the low 50s should have made for a good birding day; however, a brisk northwesterly wind made it feel much colder, and many of the smaller birds were hunkered down. Nevertheless, I logged 21 species between 9 and 10 this morning on the downstream and Glenthorne Loop trails, and added a Starling on the upstream trail. Highlights from this morning were the new season arrival of Tree Swallows, and Bluebirds were aggressively protecting their nesting boxes. There were two Red-tailed Hawks, one of which was doing aerial combat with a Crow, and I saw a Swamp Sparrow - a fall through spring visitor that I haven't seen for a few months.


Tree Swallows



Red-tailed Hawk


Red-tailed Hawk and American Crow


Swamp Sparrow

This morning's list (22 species):

Eastern Bluebird
Tree Swallow
Northern Cardinal
American Crow
Rock Pigeon
Eastern Meadowlark
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Eastern Phoebe
Cedar Waxwing
Carolina Wren
Blue Jay
Starling
American Robin

Pileated Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-tailed Hawk
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture



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