Central Virginia 9/8/2019

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

It was a beautiful day to be out birding. Unfortunately, the large influx of migrating warblers has not yet made it to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I didn't see a lot of birds there. I started off by exiting the parkway onto parallel Route 610 at mm. 2, and stopped a short way down when there was a lot of avian activity. Most of the birds were Tufted Titmice, a few Carolina Chickadees, and at least one White-breasted Nuthatch. I knew that there should be some warblers in that mix, and took as many photos as I could as these birds appeared and then quickly disappeared into the dense foliage.

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Tufted Titmouse

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Carolina Chickadee

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Red-eyed Vireo

And then a Hooded Warbler popped up to show me its catch.

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Hooded Warbler

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Hooded Warbler

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Hooded Warbler

A female American Redstart had caught a meal there as well.

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

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American Redstart

I got a quick glance at another warbler with bright wing bars, a yellow head, a white eye-ring, and a fairly long white undertail with black edging. I'm not sure what species this is, but am leaning toward Blue-winged Warbler, and would appreciate opinions on this one.

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Warbler

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Warbler

I stopped at the cirque (mm. 7.5), and it was quiet, so I continued on to Hickory Springs Overlook (mm. 12) where I have been seeing a Hooded Warbler, to the north of the overlook, every day for the past couple of weeks. Today, there were three Hooded Warblers to the north of the overlook and a fourth one south of the overlook. One of them had a partial, gray-green back to its hood, and I'm not sure if this was an immature male or a partially hooded female.

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Hooded Warbler

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Hooded Warbler

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Hooded Warbler

I turned around and headed back, and stopped again at the cirque. This time, an Ovenbird popped up for some close-up photos.

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Ovenbird

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Ovenbird

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Ovenbird

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Ovenbird

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Ovenbird

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Ovenbird

I stopped for a while at the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch at the start of the parkway, and all I saw there was a quick flying American Kestrel, giving me 23 avian species on the parkway/610 this morning.

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American Kestrel

I decided to try Ridgeview Park in nearby Waynesboro. I ended up with 16 avian species there, including 4 new ones for the day, but no warblers there.

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Pileated Woodpecker

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Rabbit

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Squirrel


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