Rockfish Valley Trail 10/24/11

All photos are © Marshall Faintich


A report of a probable Connecticut Warbler seen on the trail yesterday was posted on the Monticello Bird Club group site, so I headed off this morning to see if I could find and verify the warbler. Under mostly cloudy and a little bit of drizzle at times, I did have a good birding morning seeing 34 species, but did not see a Connecticut Warbler.


Flicker and Cedar Waxwing


American Goldfinch showing mixed breeding and winter plumage


Swamp Sparrow


Ruby-crowned Kinglet


Ruby-crowned Kinglet


Pileated Woodpecker


Yellow-rumped Warbler


Yellow-rumped Warbler


Palm Warbler - yellow sub-species


Palm Warbler - western sub-species


Nashville Warbler


Nashville Warbler


Nashville Warbler

I hiked Glenthorne Loop along the east side of Reids Creek, and when I crossed the second wooden bridge to the west side, there was a lot of activity in the field in front of me. A Red-tailed Hawk had just caught a small rodent and was being mobbed by Crows, a flock of about 20 Rock Pigeons were in the field, along with a flock of 30 to 50 Starlings, and a flock of about 10 Eastern Meadowlarks.


Red-tailed Hawk


Red-tailed Hawk


Starlings


Eastern Meadowlarks


Palm Warbler and Carolina Wren. "So, did you hear the one about the cat and the dog . . ."

On my return hike to the kiosk, I once again saw a Red-tailed Hawk -this is the one with the strong white bars on its back.


Red-tailed Hawk


Red-tailed Hawk


Red-tailed Hawk

When I got back to the kiosk I noticed that an Orbweaver was spinning a very large web that was covering the birding section of the kiosk. The web had to go.


Orbweaver

This morning's list (34 species):

Rock Pigeon
American Crow
Starling
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Bluebird
Blue Jay
Cedar Waxwing
Belted Kingfisher
Eastern Meadowlark
Catbird
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Mockingbird

Pileated Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Flicker
American Goldfinch
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Red-tailed Hawk



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