Rockfish Valley Trail 8/9/13

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

It was hot and muggy when I arrived at the trail at 8:45 this morning. Although I logged 21 species along the Glenthorne Loop and downstream trails during my 90 minute hike, I wouldn't recommend making a long trip to get to the trail for at least another couple of weeks.

Historically, the first two weeks of August on the trail have been hot, dry, and not very "birdy." Some of the summer avian visitors have already left, and the autumn migrating and winter resident birds have not arrived yet. This year, however, has been remarkably wet. Although the trail has been mowed, the vegetation on the trail was still very wet from all the rain. It was difficult to tell how "birdy" the trail was this morning - not a lot of birds were singing, and the vegetation is more dense than I have ever seen on the trail, making it difficult to see birds moving in the brush.

Highlight of this morning's hike was seeing four species of flycatchers: Least, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Wood-Pewee, and Eastern Kingbird.


Least Flycatcher


Eastern Phoebe


Eastern Wood-Pewee


Eastern Kingbird


Eastern Meadowlark


Indigo Bunting


Cedar Waxwing


Ruby-throated Hummingbird


Black Vultures


Chipping Sparrow


Swallowtails

This morning's RV Trail list:

Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Rock Pigeon
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Cedar Waxwing
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Meadowlark
American Goldfinch


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