After yesterday's remarkable showing of Broad-winged Hawks at the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, I wondered what might be at the trail today. It was supposed to be sunny, but the forecast had changed to cloudy and rain all week. There was heavy cloud cover, and the fog shrouded all of the mountains. Drats! - more grainy photos.
But my morning hike started off with a good bird - a very pretty Cape May Warbler. By the end of the hike I ended up with 30 species, including four species of warbler, and ..., well read on and you will see.
Cape May Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Male Common Yellowthroat
Female Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Blue Grosbeak
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Pileated Woodpeckers
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-eyed Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Red-shouldered Hawk
Scarlet Tanagers
unknown: juvenile Northern Cardinal?
The orbweavers were out in full force as well.
Spotted Orbweaver
Spotted Orbweaver
Spotted Orbweaver
And then the fun began. On my return hike to the kiosk where my car was parked, I looked up and was treated to a Bald Eagle!
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
As I approached my car, and then headed up on the upstream trail for a short distance, I saw a Broad-winged Hawk, and then another, and then more joined in. They kept coming and coming and coming. They were forming close by kettles of 15 to 30 hawks, circling higher and higher, and then streaming out. I saw at least 200 Broad-winged Hawks, but there may have been as many as 300 over the trail. The kettles were so close that I could not get an entire kettle in my camera viewfinder.
Broad-winged Hawk and Monarch butterfly
Adult Broad-winged Hawk
Juvenile Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawks
Broad-winged Hawks
After about 30 minutes, it all died down, and our resident tail-less Turkey Vulture came out to see what all the fuss was about.
Tail-less Turkey Vulture
This morning's list:
Indigo Bunting American Crow Catbird Field Sparrow Northern Cardinal Rock Pigeon Ruby-throated Hummingbird White-eyed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Cape May Warbler Yellow Warbler Common Yellowthroat Eastern Phoebe Eastern Wood-Pewee Carolina Wren Red-shouldered Hawk Broad-winged Hawk Bald Eagle Red-bellied Woodpecker American Goldfinch Belted Kingfisher Cedar Waxwing Scarlet Tanager Blue Grosbeak Turkey Vulture House Wren Blue Jay |