About .1 miles from the footbridge Helen Mastrangelo spotted a pair of American Redstarts (one male and one female) in the dense brush between the trail and the creek. These birds were hard to see deep in the foliage, and while we waited for them to sometimes offer brief clear views, more birds showed up. Two Great Crested Flycatchers, a female Baltimore Oriole, a Wilson's Warbler, and an Indigo Bunting were all added to our list standing in this one spot watching the redstarts!
From the footbridge we found a Nashville Warbler. Across the footbridge we found a Yellow Warbler, a few Eastern Bluebirds, and estimated 30 Chimney Swifts that hadn't disappeared to the south yet. At the second creek crossing this lone male Rambur's Forktail damselfly was perched on a plant in the water. This might be the best photo I've gotten of this species!
On our way back Virginia Rose spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a winter resident species that is one of my personal favorite symbols of the season. I'm jealous that she got to see it but I missed it!
By this time the hackberry trees were full of brown butterflies chasing each other around. I assume they were mostly the same species that use hackberry trees as their host plant. I photographed this one which was identified as a Tawny Emperor when I posted it on iNaturalist:
Back at the parking lot as we were congratulating ourselves for having such an enjoyable morning of birding, two Red-shouldered Hawks flew by and I managed to photograph this one:
What a morning! Here are a few more photos on Flickr.
And here's our complete bird list on eBird.
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