Rockfish Valley Trail 9/15/10


I went to the Rockfish Valley Trail this afternoon from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. with a different focus (no pun intended) for my photo hike. This morning I saw two Broad-winged Hawks flying low in the trees near where I live, and earlier this afternoon I mowed my lawn in upper 80 degree temperatures. As it was late in the afternoon, I did not think that there would be too much to see at the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch [9/16/10 - I sure was wrong about this assumption], so I headed to the trail. It was still in the mid-80s when I arrived at the there, so I decided not to see how many species I could spot, but rather to take an easy hike and to focus on getting some good photographic shots, and to look for any migrating raptors that might be flying overhead or spending the night on the trail. The scattered white cumulus clouds against a blue sky played havoc with my camera settings as the sun went in and out of the clouds.

There were lots and lots of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds - all females and juvenile males that I could see, and Monarch Butterflies were everywhere. Not only are we situated along a major raptor migration route, but also a major Monarch Butterfly route. A Great Blue Heron was fishing in the river, and a juvenile Bluebird caught my attention with an unusual plumage.


Great Blue Heron


Eastern Bluebird


Monarch Butterfly


Ruby-throated Hummingbird


juvenile male Ruby-throated Hummingbird


juvenile male Ruby-throated Hummingbird


Ruby-throated Hummingbird


Ruby-throated Hummingbird


Ruby-throated Hummingbird

A large flock of Starlings caught my attention. They took off when a juvenile Northern Harrier approached them. The Northern Harrier had unusual tail coloring. I wish that I had better shots, but most of them were near the sun direction.


Starlings


juvenile Northern Harrier


juvenile Northern Harrier


juvenile Northern Harrier


juvenile Northern Harrier


juvenile Northern Harrier


juvenile Northern Harrier

I then spotted a Raven flying in a kettle with a small flock of Turkey Vultures. When I looked at the photos, one of the Raven shots had a falcon below and another falcon above the Raven - probably American Kestrels, but they could be Merlins. A few minutes later, our resident tail-less Turkey Vulture made an appearance.


Raven and Falcons


tail-less Turkey Vulture

It was an interesting hike on the trail this afternoon.




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