Radnor Lake State Natural Area
Nashville-Davidson Co. TN
April 27, 2016

To spite the forecast of 40% chance of thunderstorms, the second of our four spring Wednesday morning walks at Radnor Lake was dry, sunny and “birdie".  Many thanks to Richard Conners who lead the 28 participants on this morning’s adventure. Many saw first of season birds, others saw life birds but everyone had a great time.  In addition we were joined this morning by a camera crew from NPT’sTN Crossroads who is producing a program on TOS birding and Radnor Lake.  Thanks to John Kell for helping as the point of contact this morning. We’ll be sure to let everyone know the air date for the show once the filming is complete.

As usual Radnor did not disappoint anyone this morning. We all enjoyed very close-up views of a hunting Barred Owl, a beautiful male Scarlet Tanager foraging directly over head, singing Yellow-throated, Blue-headed and Warbling Vireos, 15 species of warblers flitting among the canopy and the last of season singing Ruby-crowned Kinglets to highlight just a few of the 68 species seen or heard today. The complete list can be found below.

Canada Goose – 8 Wood Duck – 6 Blue-winged Teal – 5 Wild Turkey – 4 Pied-billed Grebe – 2 Double-crested Cormorant – 1 Great Blue Heron – 1 Turkey Vulture – 1 Red-shouldered Hawk – 1 Red-tailed Hawk – 2 Broad-winged Hawk – 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo – 1 Barred Owl – 2 Chimney Swift – 2 Ruby-throated Hummingbird – 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker – 4 Downy Woodpecker – 3 Pileated Woodpecker – 4 Eastern Wood-Pewee – 2 Acadian Flycatcher – 1 Great Crested Flycatcher – 1 Eastern Kingbird – 2 White-eyed Vireo – 2 Yellow-throated Vireo – 2 Warbling Vireo – 1 Red-eyed Vireo – 4 Blue-headed Vireo - 1 Blue Jay – 5 American Crow – 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow – 1 Barn Swallow – 5 Carolina Chickadee – 14 Tufted Titmouse – 11 White-breasted Nuthatch – 1

Carolina Wren – 7 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 5 Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 3 Eastern Bluebird – 2 Veery – 1 Swainson’s Thrush – 1 Wood Thrush – 2 Gray Catbird – 1 Louisiana Waterthrush – 1 Prothonotary Warbler – 2 Tennessee Warbler – 3 Hooded Warbler – 1 American Redstart – 1 Cape May Warbler – 1 Northern Parula – 1 Magnolia Warbler – 1 Yellow Warbler – 3 Chestnut-sided Warbler – 2 Blackpoll Warbler – 2 Palm Warbler – 10 Yellow-rumped Warbler – 8 Yellow-throated Warbler – 1 Black-throated Green Warbler – 3 Eastern Towhee – 1 White-throated Sparrow – 5 Summer Tanager – 4 Scarlet Tanager – 1 Northern Cardinal – 20 Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 5 Red-winged Blackbird – 2 Brown-headed Cowbird – 5 Orchard Oriole – 1 Baltimore Oriole – 1 American Goldfinch - 6

Cyndi Routledge

Narrows of the Harpeth
Gossett Tract State Park
Cheatham Co., TN
April 23, 2016

The Saturday morning 23 April NTOS field trip to the Narrows of the Harpeth and Gossett Tract State Park attracted 10 participants. The weather was great with temperature staying cool for much of the morning.

Highlights at the Narrows included a pair of RED-HEADED WOODPECKERs, a RED-TAILED HAWK chasing an OSPREY, a BROAD-WINGED HAWK, a distant pair of ORCHARD ORIOLES, and singing SUMMER TANAGERs. In all 46 species were seen.

The highlight of a stop afterward at the Gossett Tract State Park was watching pairs BLUE-WINGED WARBLERs in the process of building their nests. By the time the trip finished at 11:15 am, we had found 34 species at the Gossett Tract of which 12 were new for the trip, so the total for the morning was 58 species.


Birds at Narrows of the Harpeth

Canada Geese    5 Wood Duck    3 Northern Bobwhite  2 Great Blue Heron    1 Turkey Vulture   3 Osprey    1 Broad-winged Hawk   1 Red-tailed Hawk   1 Mourning Dove    1 Red-headed Woodpecker  2 Red-bellied Woodpecker  2 Downy Woodpecker   1 Pileated Woodpecker  1 American Kestrel   1 Eastern Phoebe   1 Great Creasted Flycatcher  1 Eastern Kingbird  1 White-eyed Vireo   5 Yellow-throated Vireo  1 Red-eyed Vireo  1 Blue Jay  6 American Crow  5 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 3

Tree Swallow   2 Carolina Chickadee  1 Tufted Titmouse    1 White-breasted Nuthatch   1 Carolina Wren   2 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   5 European Starling   1 Louisiana Waterthrush  1 Common Yellowthroat   6 Northern Parula    5 Palm Warbler    5 Yellow-rumped Warbler  3 Yellow-throated Warbler   2 White-throated Sparrow    3 Eastern Towhee    3 Summer Tanager   3 Northern Cardinal  7 Indigo Bunting    1 Red-winged Blackbird  3 Eastern Meadowlark   3 Brown-headed Cowbird   3 Orchard Oriole    2 American Goldfinch   3

Additional birds seen at the Gossett Tract State Park were:
Black Vulture   20
Chimney Swift   1
Barn Swallow   1
Cliff Swallow   1
House Wren   1
Gray Catbird  1
Brown Thrasher   1
Blue-winged Warbler  8 singing
Prairie Warbler   2 singing
Yellow-breasted Chat   2 singing
Field Sparrow   7
Blue Grosbeak  1 singing


Frank Fekel

Radnor Lake State Natural Area
Nashville-Davidson Co. TN
April 20, 2016

The first of the NTOS spring Radnor Lake walks started with a whopping 32 participants. There were new birders and good birders and a few hot birders and everyone had fun spotting birds. While this wasn't much of a warbler day (8 species and only 12 individuals), many of us got our first glimpses at migrants returning from their winter environs. Notable species included Acadian Flycatcher,  Wood and Swainson's Thrush, Blue-winged and Yellow Warblers, and a very cooperative Scarlet Tanager. Others less cooperative included E. Kingbird, Scarlet Tanager, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

 47 species

Canada Goose  4  Wood Duck  4  Blue-winged Teal  2  Wild Turkey  1  Double-crested Cormorant  1  Great Blue Heron  1  Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawk  1  Red-tailed Hawk  2  Chimney Swift  5  Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1  Belted Kingfisher  1  Red-bellied Woodpecker  1  Downy Woodpecker  5  Northern Flicker  1  Pileated Woodpecker  1  Acadian Flycatcher  2  Eastern Kingbird  1  White-eyed Vireo  1  Red-eyed Vireo  3  Blue Jay  3  Northern Rough-winged Swallow  10  Barn Swallow  1  Carolina Chickadee  8  Tufted Titmouse  9

White-breasted Nuthatch  2  Carolina Wren  8  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  13  Ruby-crowned Kinglet  3  Eastern Bluebird  2  Swainson's Thrush  1  Wood Thrush  1  Louisiana Waterthrush  2  Blue-winged Warbler  2  Hooded Warbler  1  Northern Parula  1  Yellow Warbler  1  Palm Warbler  1  Yellow-rumped Warbler  4  Yellow-throated Warbler  1  White-throated Sparrow  2  Summer Tanager  1  Scarlet Tanager  1  Northern Cardinal  9  Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1  Red-winged Blackbird  2  Common Grackle  1  Brown-headed Cowbird  5  American Goldfinch  5

 Melinda Welton