Central Virginia 9/26-30/2022

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Fall migration is still a bit unusual this year. The vegetation along the parkway is still lush and dense, and combined with the lower fall sun angles, a lot of the trees where warblers forage are still in shadows during the morning hours. Only a few leaves have fallen from the trees so far. My experience has been that warblers prefer to forage in sunlit trees and ground vegetation.

Blue Ridge Parkway, VA; 9/26/2022

I met up with Tink Moyer at the cirque on the parkway. Most of the birds were far down the hill from the parkway where trees were in good sunlight.

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Cape May Warblers

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Black-throated Green(UR) and Tennessee(LL) Warblers

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Tennessee Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Blue-headed Vireo

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Rose-breasted Grosbeak

We drove down to Route 610, and saw only a few birds, including the same three warbler species.

Old Trail; Crozet, VA; 9/27/2022

Rather than go back up to the parkway and Route 610, I decided to hike close to home. I ended up with 20+ avian species, even with the increased home/apartment buildings that puts more walker-talkers and dog walkers on the trails. I saw my first Pied-billed Grebe of the season, but it dove before I could get a photo of it.

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Magnolia Warbler

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Magnolia Warbler

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Common Yellowthroat

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Common Yellowthroat

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Carolina Wren

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Northern Mockingbird

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Eastern Phoebe

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Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk

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Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk

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Swainson's Thrush

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Swainson's Thrush

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American Lady

Central Virginia; 9/29/2022

With Hurricane Ian making landfall in Florida and then making its way up the eastern coast, I wondered if migrating birds might have decided to wait it out here in Virginia. The Birdcast radar showed fairly heavy migration overnight through Virginia, but only to a lesser extent into North Carolina. But when I got up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, it was already quite windy, and with temperatures ranging from the high 40s to low 50s, it was also quite chilly. I didn't see any birds up at the cirque, and only heard a few there. So I turned around and got onto Route 610 at mm. 4 of the parkway.

Migrating warblers can be found anywhere on Route 610 between mm. 4 and mm. 2 of the parkway, but three sites there have always been better for my finding warblers. The straight stretch of road between mm. 4 and about half a mile north was quiet, so I drove slowly to my next favorite site about even with mm. 3 of the parkway. To my dismay, two large work trucks with workers were parked there. One of the trucks had a cherry picker on it, and I suspect they were getting ready to work on the power lines there, so I continued north.

The last stop was at the old tower near mm. 2. There have been workmen there off and on for the past three weeks, and a motor running continuously every day, scaring all the birds away from that site. But as soon as stopped my car, I saw a mixed warbler flock of about 12 or so birds, and each bird quickly disappeared into the thick vegetation. I was able to photograph two of the species: one or two Black-throated Green Warblers and a Magnolia Warbler. But I had only been there about two minutes when a large work truck arrived and pulled into the old tower area. No more birds there to see at that point.

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View of the Shenandoah Valley from the cirque

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Magnolia Warbler

With all the wind, I saw little point going back up onto the parkway, so I headed over to Ridgeview Park in nearby Waynesboro. It was a bit warmer there, and somewhat less wind, but although I logged a fair number of avian species there, not a single warbler was seen.

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Blue Jay

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

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Carolina Chickadee

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Immature Red-bellied Woodpecker

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Eastern Bluebird

Old Trail; Crozet, VA; 9/30/2022

There was complete cloud cover this morning, with the remnants of Hurricane Ian expected to start around noon and to bring 4+ inches of rain over the next few days. Birds were very active. I saw two Black-throated Green Warblers, my first Yellow-rumped Warbler of the season, and a large flock of Cedar Waxwings.

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Scarlet Tanager

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Part of the Cedar Waxwing flock

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Great Blue Heron

One of the Cedar Waxwings had a bad morning. It became breakfast for a Merlin. Although Merlins are uncommon, we seem to have a family of them here in Old Trail that arrive every year around the first of October, and spend the winter from here west to King Family Vineyards.

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Merlin

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Merlin

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Merlin

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Merlin

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Merlin

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Merlin


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