Rockfish Valley Trail 8/16/10


Went to the Rockfish Valley Trail this morning to see if any migratory birds might be there. Arrived at the main kiosk at 8:40 - temperature was in the mid 70s, but the humidity was fairly high, and no breeze at all for the first hour. We tell everyone that on most days you can spot at least 20 bird species in a two-hour hike, so that is my target each time I go there.

By the time I finished the first hour - downstream trail and Glenthorne Loop all the way to the second wooden bridge and back to the kiosk, I had 21 species:

Rock Pigeon
Field Sparrow
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Bluebird
American Crow
Eastern Phoebe Great Egret (a pair on the downstream trail)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Indigo Bunting
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
White-eyed Vireo (juvenile in Yellow Bird Thicket)
Northern Bobwhite
Cooper's Hawk (juvenile)
Carolina Wren
Carolina Chickadee
Catbird
Turkey Vulture
Barn Swallow
American Goldfinch
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Great Blue Heron


Great Egret


juvenile White-eyed Vireo


juvenile White-eyed Vireo


juvenile White-eyed Vireo

I also photographed a pair of birds in flight that I can not identify - both had a yellow patch on the forward edge of their underwing coverts. Any help would be appreciated.


Unidentified

I spent another 40 minutes taking the upstream trail to the benches and back, and added another three species:

Chipping Sparrow
Cedar Waxwing (juvenile)
Flickers (a noisy male and female).


Male and female Flicker



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