Central Virginia 9/10/2021
All photos are © Marshall Faintich
This was a really "nutty" birding day for me. I live in Old Trail (Crozet) just off Route 250. It's about a mile to the intersection of 250 and I-64 (Exit 107), and then 8 miles west on either road up to Rockfish Gap (Exit 99) and the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway and parallel Route 610. I normally leave home around 9:00 a.m., and am birding up there in 10 to 15 minutes. Also, there's an elementary school, junior high, and high school right next to Old Trail on 250. Because of either a school bus driver shortage and/or extra spacing between students on the school buses, the schools have asked parents and driver aged students to take cars rather than school buses. Old Trail Drive is the main short cut to 250 from points north, so in addition to Old Trail students, it's a nightmare getting to 250 between 8:30 and 9:00 in the morning.
The Birdcast web site had predicted heavy migration over last night, and when I checked the actual radar this morning, it looked really good for seeing migrating warblers up on 610 and the parkway. I woke myself up an hour earlier than usual, perhaps subconsciously being eager to look for the birds this morning, and was able to get out of the house at 8:10 and beat the school traffic. Soon after starting west on 250, there was an electronic road sign showing "Crash 6 miles ahead, both lanes blocked." I didn't know if it was on Route 250 or on I-64, and decided to try 250. There aren't any exits on the interstate between 107 and 99, and I could be stuck for hours there. Well, 5 miles to the west and when I got to Route 151 on 250, 250 was blocked to all traffic as an 18-wheeler had overturned on the way down (up to?) to Rockfish Gap. So I turned around and drove 5 miles back to I-64, and was at Rockfish Gap by 8:30.
I was to meet Tink Moyer up there, but he wasn't going to arrive until sometime after 9:00, so I stayed on the parkway and drove up to the cirque (mm. 7.5). It was windy and not a single bird to be seen, and I heard one Pewee. So I turned around and got onto 610 at mm. 4. I stopped where I have been seeing a pair of Hooded Warblers, heard both of them, and got a quick look at one of them.
Birdcast radar from overnight
| | |
Hooded Warbler
Carolina Wren
I met up with Tink at the Old Tower around 9:15, but we saw very few birds on 610, drove up to the cirque but it was still quiet, and decided to try Ridgeview Park in nearby Waynesboro. When we got to Rockfish Gap, Route 250 appeared to be open. We saw quite a few "park" birds at Ridgeview Park, but not a single warbler. It was now 11:00, and Tink opted to head for home, and I decided to try 610 and the parkway again. That turned out to be a good decision. When I got off the interstate at Rockfish Gap, I saw that 250 was closed once again. As soon as I got onto 610, I saw a Charlottesville birder whom I know, and she was worried about how to get back to Charlottesville. She said there was only one lane open east-bound on I-64 due to road work near mm. 118, and the traffic on I-64 was backed up going east from mm. 118 all the way to exit 107. With 250 closed once again, I-64 was probably backed up closer to Rockfish Gap by this time, and both of my routes home would be either blocked or a mess. Had I decided to not get off I-64 at Rockfish Gap, I would have been stuck. So I decided to bird 610 and the parkway all the south to Reids Gap (mm. 14 of the parkway), take Route 664 east to Route 151, and then north to 250. I didn't see any birds all the way to Reids Gap!
When I got to 151, I decided to try a little birding on the Rockfish Valley Trail. It was close to noon by this time. I had been the birding activity manager of the Rockfish Valley Trail from 2008 to 2014, and knew where there would be good warbler habitat. Significant habitat loss adjacent to this trail, and some habitat loss on the trail, reduced this trail from being a bird magnet to just being "so-so," but every once in a while, birders can get lucky there. Soon after starting my hike, I encountered a Common Yellowthroat and a White-eyed Vireo.
Common Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat
White-eyed Vireo
When I got next to the Rockfish River, there was a bit of avian activity. I saw a Tufted Titmouse, a Carolina Chickadee, and my third warbler species of the morning. In the field, I thought it to be a Nashville Warbler, and this would be my 39th warbler species photographed in 2021. When I got home and started processing the photos, my original species identification is now suspect, and I would appreciate opinions. It's grayish back, bright yellow underside, and bold and complete eye-ring look good for a Nashville. One of the photos may show a bit of chestnut on the crown. But it has yellow legs and feet! They should be dark grayish brown to dull blackish, and possibly yellow soles of the feet. If it's not a Nashville, the only other choices are Canada and Connecticut. Canada Warblers have a white vent area, and the vent is yellow on this bird. I also don't see the yellow line from the eye ring to the bill found on Canada Warblers. There may be a small amount of white in the vent area, but this is okay for a Nashville, especially for a western subspecies.
The legs and feet of a Connecticut Warbler are pinkish to pinkish yellow, and there might be a bit of a hood seen on this bird, and I had seen a Connecticut Warbler in the same area of this trail in October 2013. I wish I had seen today's warbler from a better angle. But this bird wasn't acting like a Connecticut, so I think that Nashville is the correct call. I just don't understand the yellow legs and feet.
Nashville(?) Warbler
Nashville(?) Warbler
Nashville(?) Warbler
Nashville(?) Warbler
Nashville(?) Warbler
I left the RV Trail at 1:00, and when I got to the intersection of 151 and 250 at 1:15, 250 was still closed closed going up to Rockfish Gap.
Update
From John Rowlett (local birding expert):
Looks to me like you nailed a Connecticut, Marshall! Nice find! You certainly deserved it after all the interference you ran this morning.
Several points to make:
1) leg color is COWA, not Nashville
2) solid yellow crissum (no ill-defined white "strap" between undertail coverts and belly; this is impt)
3) undertail coverts are too long for Nashville
4) bird is too stout, bulky for Nashville
5) suffusion of brownish or dull greenish on head
6) dense habitat (insofar as I can tell) much better for COWA than Nashville
7) bill appears too heavy for Nashville
8) eye is too large for Nashville and too thickly encircled by unbroken ring