Kentucky Warbler
Tink Moyer met me at my house in Old Trail, and we drove over to Mint Springs Park. Kentucky Warblers usually show up there along the Fire Trail by May 5th each year. The Fire Trail is a steep climb - 300 foot elevation change (30 building stories) in the first leg of the trail from the kiosk. We got lucky. There were two Kentucky Warblers in less than 100 yards after starting the ascent.
Kentucky Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
We decided not to hike farther up the Fire Trail as it was fairly quiet. There were a few American Redstarts and some other woodland species. We did get a very quick look at a different warbler. There wasn't enough detail in my one photo, and from the undertail pattern and fine dark streaks on its yellow flanks, it might have bee a Magnolia or Blackburnian Warbler, or less likely a Cape May or Prairie Warbler.
? Warbler
Then we did a short hike here in Old Trail. At one point, two Red-shouldered Hawks were circling above.
Common Yellowthroat
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
When I was post-processing my photos of the hawks, I noticed something unusual. There was a small, white circular blob in the sky above the hawk. The next two photos of the hawk also showed the white circular blob, and in different locations on the image frame, so I know that it wasn't an artifact in the camera sensor. Another spy balloon?
Red-shouldered Hawk and unidentified aerial feature
I looked at the hawk photo just before, and it was even stranger. After computer stretching the image, there are four small white dashes.
Red-shouldered Hawk and unidentified aerial feature
Well, all I know is that the unusual feature was not a bird! I sometimes see a spider web strand being carried by the wind, so perhaps that is what I photographed?
Route 610; Mint Springs Park; Old Trail; Crozet, VA; May 6I met up with two birders from California who were visiting the area, and had contacted me about taking them around to find eastern birds, as most of the species would be life birds for them. We started off on Route 610 between mm. 2 and mm. 4 of the parkway. We saw 5 warbler species: American Redstart, Cerulean, Hooded, Pine, and Ovenbird, and they also saw other life birds: Scarlet Tanager, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Gray Catbird, and we heard Wood Thrushes.
American Redstart
Cerulean Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Ovenbird
Red-tailed Hawk
There was a lot of traffic up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, so we then headed over to Mint Springs Park to look for Kentucky Warblers. But it was 12:30 in the afternoon by the time we got there, and there were very few birds to see. They did add another life bird: an Eastern Kingbird around the golf course pond in Old Trail, and my Californian friends were up to a dozen life birds here in Virginia the last time I asked them.