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 5Wild 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 |
