Central Virginia, 8/12/16

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

The heat and humidity returned with a vengeance. I went to the Rockfish Valley Trail in the mid-morning, and most of the birds were hunkered down trying to stay cool. I saw 10 avian species there, and the only birds out and about were a few Barn Swallows, but I think that the heat was making them a bit testy.

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Barn Swallows

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Barn Swallows

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Barn Swallow

I drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to seek more comfortable temperatures, but it was close to 80 degrees there, and most of the birds were deep in the trees and far from my camera. I saw about 15 species along a few sites in the first 14 miles of the parkway. This included 3 warbler species, but I wasn't able to get a photo of a Cerulean Warbler as it zoomed past me.

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Female Hooded Warbler

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Female American Redstart

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Red-eyed Vireo

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Downy Woodpecker

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Cedar Waxwing

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Eastern Wood-Pewee

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Butterflies

I ended the outing with a short hike in Ridgeview Park in Waynesboro. There were lots of woodland birds there, but most of them were American Robins.

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Juvenile American Robin


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