Rockfish Valley Trail 4/30/12

All photos are © Marshall Faintich


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):

Eastern Bluebird
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Northern Cardinal
Carolina Wren
American Goldfinch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Blue Jay
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Starling
Red-winged Blackbird
American Crow
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Eastern Phoebe
Catbird
Cowbird
Rock Pigeon

American Kestrel
Orchard Oriole
White-eyed Vireo
Brown Thrasher
Tufted Titmouse
Cedar Waxwing
Indigo Bunting
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Kingfisher



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