Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Radnor Lake State Natural Area
Nashville-Davidson Co, TN
May 1, 2013

Over twenty birders joined this morning's NTOS-sponsored walk at Radnor Lake State Natural Area.

It was one of those mornings where you get some good looks at certain birds, and hear plenty of others. For many, the ACADIAN FLYCATCHER calling out near the road as we strolled from up the parking lot to the lake was a first for this spring. The bird not only sang out loud and clear, but came down on a bare branch for all to see. That's about when we saw the LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH on the road surface in plain view. The youngest member of the group, David, found a RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD nest on a bare branch over the dam road. When we queried him as to how he ever found such a tiny bump on the twig, he said he saw the bird fly onto the nest. Along the same road we saw two YELLOW-THROATED VIREOS, one with nesting material in its bill, and sure enough we found a nest high up in a sycamore tree at the lake's edge. Also along the dam was an AMERICAN COOT standing at the edge of the water, just beside a SPOTTED SANDPIPER that cooperated nicely as well. All this, while a WOOD THRUSH sang continually nearby. We also spied an EASTERN KINGBIRD perched out at the top of a tree near the Spillway, making his buzzy sharp kzeet call.  A highlight for many was seeing and hearing a SUMMER TANAGER out in the open, above the road over the dam. We did later see and hear a female SUMMER TANAGER making pit-a-tuck calls.

On the Lake Trail we spotted a BARRED OWL perched low near the first little footbridge coming from the Spillway. It suddenly dove down, but came up empty-clawed to the same branch, and then flew off, brushing right past us.

We heard more warblers than we saw, but a handful of us saw a male BLACKPOLL WARBLER near Grassy Point; a few more of us saw a NORTHERN PARULA, and most of us got a good look at a PROTHONOTARY WARBLER. Most all the other warblers were heard and not seen.

As we approached the Long Bridge a pair of male SCARLET TANAGERS sat almost side by side, which stopped the group for a while. And finally when we got to the Long Bridge we had a VIREO chorus: a RED-EYED, WHITE-EYED, and YELLOW-THROATED singing simultaneously.

48 species

Canada Goose 7
Wood Duck 5
Wild Turkey 4
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Barred Owl 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 3
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Yellow-throated Vireo 3
Red-eyed Vireo 3
Blue Jay 6
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Purple Martin 1
Barn Swallow 6
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 9
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5
Eastern Bluebird 5
Swainson's Thrush 1
Wood Thrush 1
Louisiana Waterthrush 3
Prothonotary Warbler 3
Tennessee Warbler 2
Nashville Warbler 1
Kentucky Warbler 1
Cape May Warbler 1
Northern Parula 2
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler 6
Yellow-throated Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Summer Tanager 3
Scarlet Tanager 3
Northern Cardinal 12
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
American Goldfinch 4


Kevin Bowden