Central Virginia 9/17/2019

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

It was really cloudy today, with possible rain in the forecast, but with winds turned to northeasterly, I wanted to see what birds might be moving into the area. The heavy cloud cover made photography a challenge. Not only was there little light for good exposures, there wasn't much light being reflected from the ground and other surface features to illuminate birds above me, and most of them appeared almost in silhouuette.

I started birding on Route 610 after exiting the Blue Ridge Parkway at mm. 2, and soon stopped when there was a lot of avian activity. In addition to Titmice, Nuthatches, Chickadees, a Scarlet Tanager, a Red-eyed Vireo, and a Downy Woodpecker, I was able to find four warbler species, and there may have been more.

Photo Unavailable
Black-throated Green Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Blackburnian Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Blackburnian Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Tennessee Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Tennessee Warbler

Photo Unavailable
American Redstart

Photo Unavailable
Red-eyed Vireo

Photo Unavailable
Scarlet Tanager

Photo Unavailable
Downy Woodpecker

Photo Unavailable
Tufted Titmice

It was quiet all the rest of the way south until I got to Hickory Springs Overlook (mm. 12) where I logged two Hooded Warblers. One of them was my "buddy," who let me take as many photos as I wanted, and I was able to compensate for the poor lighting.

Photo Unavailable
Hooded Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Hooded Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Hooded Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Hooded Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Hooded Warbler

Photo Unavailable
Hooded Warbler

I returned to the start of the parkway, saw a Red-tailed Hawk on Route 610 on the way there, and joined the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch group for an hour or so. In addition to Black and Turkey Vultures, I saw some Broad-winged Hawks, a Bald Eagle, and Osprey, two Peregrine Falcons a few minutes apart, and two Merlins flying together.

Photo Unavailable
Red-tailed Hawk

Photo Unavailable
Bald Eagle; Osprey

Photo Unavailable
Both Peregrine Falcons (left) and Merlin (right)

Photo Unavailable
Broad-winged Hawk

Photo Unavailable
11 of 12 Broad-winged Hawks in a small kettle

At this point, I had logged 5 warbler species and 8 raptor species, but I wasn't done yet. I had some errands to run in Crozet this afternoon, but had time to do a very quick hike along a creek near my home in Old Trail before then.

Photo Unavailable
Juvenile (dark eye) White-eyed Vireo

Photo Unavailable
Common Yellowthroat

Photo Unavailable
First year(?) Song Sparrow

Photo Unavailable
Red-shouldered Hawk


E-mail comments on this report

Return to blog page home