I thought that the wind was supposed to quiet down today, but it was still quite windy. I decided to hike here in Old Trail knowing that smaller birds would be humkered down no matter where I went birding in the area. I started off at the Albemarle County Western Park (completely within Old Trail), and hiked on the narrow path through the wetlands. It's been so dry that the close to an inch of rain last Wednesday had mostly soaked in, and the path was fairly dry. After the first few minutes, I got my second Lincoln's Sparrow of this autumn.
Lincoln's Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
There were quite a few sparrows in the wetlands. I saw a lot of Song and House Sparrows, at least three White-crowned Sparrows, and got photos of three Swamp Sparrows.
White-crowned Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
House Sparrows
House Sparrow
There were several non-sparrow species as well.
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
I headed over to the trail along the golf course pond. The pond was low from the lack of rain, and lots of lost golf balls were stuck in the mud of the now muddy pond edge behind a small flock of Canada Geese. One of our resident Red-shouldered Hawks was in a tree near the pond.
Canada Goose
Red-shouldered Hawk
I continued on the trail around the pond and up to the grassy area along the golf fairway, where I saw more sparrows.
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Field Sparrow
I ended my hike in Old Trail at this point with 21 avian species. I'm sure that I could have found a White-throated Sparrow, and perhaps some other species, if I hiked in Old Trail some more this morning.