Crozet, VA 11/4/2021

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Old Trail

It was another big birding day for me here in Old Trail. Temperatures were in the mid-30s when I started out under complete cloud cover. I first went to the trail along the golf course pond. There were several Yellow-rumped Warblers and a handful of other avian species. A Cooper's Hawk flew low across the pond and out of sight before I could get a photo of it.

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Yellow-rumped Warblers

Next stop was Western Park from the Lodge to the north end of the soccer field. As I hiked along Old Trail Drive, I saw three Ring-necked Ducks (2 males and one female) and a Belted Kingfisher in the pond along the road. This is the time of year when ducks start migrating through the area, and a few spend the winter here. Twenty-one duck species have been seen in Old Trail.

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House Sparrows

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Ring-necked Ducks

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Belted Kingfisher

I hiked along the soccer field and down to the communtiy garden, seeing some of the ususal avian species and a few deer.

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White-crowned Sparrow

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Swamp Sparrow

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Carolina Wren

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Northern Cardinal

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Northern Mockingbird

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House Finch

On my return loop around the soccer field, I stopped when I saw a Nashville Warbler. This is a late season migrating species. The Virginia Society of Ornithology's "Virginia's Birdlife" (informally known as the Gold Book), which is an annotated checklist compiling avian records going back as far as 200+ years, shows the last date for this species to be seen here as November 2, with an extreme last date of November 15. So it was a bit unusual for this bird to be here.

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Nashville Warbler

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Nashville Warbler

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Nashville Warbler

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Nashville Warbler

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Nashville Warbler

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Nashville Warbler

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Nashville Warbler

And about 10 feet away from the Nashville Warbler, I saw another warbler and it was hard for me to believe - a Black-throated Green Warbler. This species is often seen from late spring through early autumn, but the late date for this species in the Virginia Piedmont is October 15, with an extreme late date of October 26 (extreme late date in the mountains and western valleys is November 12).

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green Warbler

I had pretty much given up seeing any warbler species other than wintering Yellow-rumps until next spring. Soon after getting back onto Old Trail Drive, a Red-shouldered Hawk flew in a perched close by.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

I continued my hike along Slabtown Branch Creek and ended my morning hike with 35 avian species, including 7 species that I had not seen yesterday here in Old Trail when I logged 33 avian species.

This morning's list:

Canada Goose
Ring-necked Duck
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Raven
Cedar Waxwing
Nashville Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Field Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow


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