Old Dominion Trail. The temperature yesterday was pretty warm for the 6th of October. I brought my binoculars, but didn't start logging birds right away because it was so quiet and i had gotten no exercise in days. As we got closer to 630, the birds along the trail started becoming more active. At first it was the usual dusk birds, Northern Cardinals "cheeping" and Gray Catbirds "meowing" from the stands of poke berry and the invasive honeysuckle.
When an Eastern Towhee started in with his "tu-WEE" call, things started to get interesting. As I stopped to admire the strikingly red berries on a dogwood, an Indigo Bunting landed. I watched her eat the berries when what I thought was sparrow that I could not identify landed nearby. The bird was plain looking, with no eye-ring, no chest stripes, nor stripes on its head. It flew off before I could get a good enough look at it to make out any other distinguishing field markings. It could very well have been a female Indigo. Then, that I fired up my e-bird App and started logging birds.
The other highlights of the walk were mostly heard: Pileated Woodpecker and a Barred Owl. We did see a hawk of some type try to catch a Mourning Dove. It was dusk, so I only got a glimpse of its silhouette. The size differential made me think that it was a buteo of some type, perhaps a young Red-shouldered Hawk.
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