Blue Ridge Parkway, VA 9/24/2019

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

September 23

I did a little birding up on the parkway and then stopped at the hawk watch, but didn't see a single warbler, and ended the outing with about a dozen avian species.

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Common Raven

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Sharp-shinned Hawk

September 24

This morning started out like the day before. I thought I heard a few warblers along Route 610, but couldn't see them, and the cirque at mm. 7.5 was quiet. When I got to Hickory Springs Overlook (mm. 12), there was an Eastern Wood-Pewee catching flies from high atop a tree, and then I picked up a small flock of migrating warblers.

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Eastern Wood-Pewee

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Chesnut-sided Warbler

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Chesnut-sided Warbler

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Chesnut-sided Warbler

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Chesnut-sided Warbler

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Chesnut-sided Warbler

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Magnolia Warbler

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Magnolia Warbler

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Female American Redstart

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Northern Parula

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Northern Parula

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Northern Parula

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Northern Parula

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Northern Parula

One of the warblers was a Blackburnian, but at some angles, appeared to have a dark moustachial crescent below its eye like that of a Prairie Warbler. It was probably just a variant or remanants from breeding plumage, as I don't know of any records of a Blackburnian x Prairie hybrid.

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Blackburnian Warbler

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Blackburnian Warbler

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Blackburnian Warbler

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Blackburnian Warbler

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Blackburnian Warbler

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Blackburnian Warbler

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Blackburnian Warbler

I heard a Hooded Warbler at that stop, and then headed back north. On my return, I spotted a pair of Tennessee Warblers along Routen 610.

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Tennessee Warbler


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