Crozet, VA 2/28/2020

Old Trail

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

It was another blustery morning, but with less sunshine than yesterday. However, I did end up with 29 avian species, and did not see 2 species that I saw yesterday on the same hike. The continuing female Common Merganser from at least last December 2 was still in the golf course pond.

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Common Merganser

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Song Sparrow

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Field Sparrow

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House Finch

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Carolina Wren

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Northern Mockingbird

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

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White-breasted Nuthatch

Once again, Red-shouldered Hawks were the highlight of the morning. I had seen both of the resident adults yesterday at the secluded pond between Slabtown Branch Creek and the junior high school. I include two of yesterday's photos for comparison with the hawks I saw this morning. The male has a solid rufous upper breast, whereas the female is more barred on her breast.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

As I hiked the trail along Western Park this morning, a Red-shouldered Hawk flew across the park at a far distance, and then out of sight. It wasn't the resident male, but perhaps the resident female.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

A minute or so later, another hawk flew close by from the direction where the first hawk had gone. This hawk had some missing/molting wing feathers. This one might have been the resident female, but the banding on its upper tail looked different from the first hawk this morning, and the molting/missing wing feathers would have had to have occurred in a minute or less.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

A couple of minutes later, two hawks appeared, and I assumed that they were the resident hawks, but neither one looked to have any missing wing feathers.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

After comparing the breast patterns, I don't think that either of the first two hawks were the resident adults. A third hawk appeared, and it was the resident juvenile. Last February 12, I saw seven Red-shouldered Hawks here in Old Trail, but I don't think that the first two hawks were from that day.

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Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk

Here's my species list from this morning:

Canada Goose
Common Merganser
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow


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