Skyline Drive, VA, 7/11/16

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Walt Childs and I headed up Skyline Drive from its southern end to look for a Summer Tanager that had been reported on Loft Mountain four days ago, as well as warblers and other avian species. Our first stop was at Sawmill Ridge Overlook where we saw a few species, including an adult and a juvenile Pine Warbler, and a first summer male American Redstart.

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Adult Pine Warbler

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Juvenile Pine Warbler

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First summer male American Redstart

As soon as we got to Loft Mountain, we encountered a Hooded Warbler.

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Hooded Warbler

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Hooded Warbler

A short way down the road, we stopped when we heard more birds. Gray Catbirds seemed to be everywhere, and a juvenile Eastern Towhee was foraging next to the road.

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Juvenile Eastern Towhee

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Juvenile Eastern Towhee

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Juvenile Eastern Towhee

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Juvenile Eastern Towhee

We heard some rustling in the woods nearby, and two deer appeared. I'm not sure if I am counting its points correctly, but I see 14 points on one of the deer.

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Deer

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Deer

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Deer

There were lots of woodland avian species everywhere we looked.

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Gray Catbird

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House Wren

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Juvenile American Robin

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Least(?) Flycatcher

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Juvenile Red-eyed Vireo

We saw more American Restarts. One was a male starting to get its adult plumage, and another one was a first summer male that landed so close to me that I had to back away to get the bird in focus.

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Immature male American Redstart

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First summer male American Redstart

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First summer male American Redstart

We returned to the trail where we had seen Chestnut-sided Warblers on June 22, and saw more of them, more Eastern Towhees, and a juvenile male Downy Woodpecker. Notice the red crown on the woodpecker, as an adult male would have a red nape.

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Chestnut-sided Warbler

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Adult male Eastern Towhee

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Juvenile male Downy Woodpecker

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Juvenile male Downy Woodpecker

We decided to try the parking area on High Mountain near Route 33 where we had seen Kentucky Warblers last week, and when they had evaded my camera on that trip. We saw them again, as well as a female American Redstart, and the Kentucky Warblers almost got away without a photo once again.

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Kentucky Warbler

Near the parking lot, we saw an Empidonax Flycatcher. It looked too big to be a Least Flycatcher, and Willow/Alder Flycatchers are not usually at this elevation, so it was most likely an Acadian Flycatcher.

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Acadian(?) Flycatcher

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Acadian(?) Flycatcher

We decided to head back down Skyline Drive to return to Nellysford, but we weren't done yet. A few miles from the end of Skyline Drive, we stopped when a good sized bear ran across the road and into the woods. I tried to get a photo from the car window, and as we were stopped, an even larger bear ran across the road behind the car.

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Black Bear

We ended the trip with close to 35 avian species, in addition to some interesting non-avian wildlife.


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