I had originally planned on going up to the Blue Ridge Parkway this morning to look for migrating warblers, but dark skies and low hanging fog changed my plans. When I arrived a the Rockfish Valley Trail, sprinkles of rain drops started to fall on my car windshield, but I decided to give it a try. Although the rain quickly ended, the dark skies made for poor photography and grainy images, but also kept the birds out a bit longer.
The new gravel under the route 151 bridge made the trail a lot easier to navigate there. Although I only saw two warbler species, I ended up with 38 species on the trail this morning, including RV Trail FOY birds: Indigo Bunting (many), White-eyed Vireo (2), Grasshopper Sparrow, Eastern Kingbird (4), Orchard Oriole (3), Palm Warbler (2), and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. The female American Kestrel was seen again atop the tree at the end of the fenced field on the upstream trail, and then flew over to a tree near Elk Hill.
American Kestrel
Adult male Orchard Oriole
First-year male Orchard Oriole
First-year male Orchard Oriole
Eastern Kingbird
Grasshopper Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
White-eyed Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
This morning's list (38 species):
Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Northern Cardinal Carolina Wren American Goldfinch Yellow-rumped Warbler Palm Warbler Blue Jay Ruby-crowned Kinglet Song Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Eastern Towhee Red-bellied Woodpecker Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Red-winged Blackbird American Crow Eastern Kingbird Eastern Meadowlark Eastern Phoebe Catbird Cowbird Rock Pigeon Orchard Oriole White-eyed Vireo Brown Thrasher Tufted Titmouse Cedar Waxwing Indigo Bunting Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Kingfisher |