female Common Yellowthroat
A beautiful morning to be on the Rockfish Valley Trail. I got there at 8:30, and in two hours I logged 32 species. After reading yesterday's Hawk Watch report about fourteen American Kestrels, and one juvenile Merlin that flew slowly overhead clutching something in its talons and taking bites of it from time to time as it flew over (one hour after I left the Hawk Watch, of course), I decided to go upstream first, as I had seen a kestrel there a few weeks ago. No falcons, but in 20 minutes I logged 9 species, and by the time I reached the turn from the downstream trail onto Glenthorne Loop, I had 20 species.
Yellow Bird Thicket lived up to its name, offering up five species of birds with yellow markings: a female Common Yellowthroat, two female American Redstarts, a Palm Warbler, a male American Goldfinch, and a Brown Thrasher (yellow eyes).
female Common Yellowthroat
female American Redstart
female American Redstart
female American Redstart
Palm Warbler
male American Goldfinch
Brown Thrasher
The highlight of the morning was a Philadelphia Vireo - a new life bird for me
Philadelphia Vireo
This morning's species were:
Starling
American Crow
Eastern Bluebird
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Cedar Waxwing
Great Blue Heron
Indigo Bunting
American Goldfinch
Eastern Phoebe
Carolina Wren
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Turkey Vulture
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Pileated Woodpecker (at least two)
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
Scarlet Tanager
Blue Jay
Brown Thrasher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Palm Warbler
Red-tail Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Carolina Chickadee
Kingfisher
Rock Pigeon
Northern Cardinal
Philadelphia Vireo
Cooper's Hawk