Central Virginia 4/7-8/2021

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

April 7

I only had time for a shorter, 1-1/2 hour hike, so I stayed here in Old Trail this morning. Birding was good, and I ended up with 35 avian species. It was neat to see Yellow-rumped Warblers in various stages of molt from non-breeding to breeding plumage.

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Great Blue Heron

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Northern Rough-winged Swallow

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Pine Siskin

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Red-bellied Woodpecker

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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

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White-crowned Sparrow

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Swamp Sparrow

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Red-winged Blackbird

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Ring-necked Duck

April 8

With more time for birding than yesterday, I decided to explore a bit. I've been up on the first four miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway and parallel Route 610 a few times this year, but with little green vegetation at those elevations, I hadn't gone farther. This morning, I decided to go all the way to Reids Gap at mm. 14. The parkway wasn't "birdy" at all, and I saw only eight avian species there.

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Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler

I took Route 664 down from Reids Gap and stopped at the Rockfish Valley Trail. It was fairly quiet there as well, and I added 7 more avian species to my morning list.

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Eastern Meadowlark

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Chipping Sparrow

My last stop was at Stoney Creek (Wintergreen) where Alice and I lived for 10 years. It was quiet as well, and I added 8 more avian spieces to my morning list, including only 2 new species that I hadn't seen in Old Trail yesterday. But the redbuds were in full bloom, making for an enjoyable morning there.

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Swamp Sparrow

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Eastern Towhee

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Pine Warbler

When I got home, there was a Grapevine Epimenis Moth on our garage floor - a new bug species for me.

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Grapevine Epimenis Moth


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