[tn-bird] Radnor Lake, Twisted Tale (LONG)
- From: Frank Fekel <fekel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 12:20:40 -0500 (CDT)
This has been a very good year so far for CONNECTICUT WARBLERs and
a number of Nashville area birders have gotten their life looks at this
Skulker in the past few days, either at Shelby or Radnor. The
tradition continued this morning!
Last night at the Nashville TOS meeting there was a bit of discussion
about the recent CONNECTICUT WARBLER sightings at Radnor Lake. As a
result, Troy Ettel agreed to meet me at the Radnor West Parking lot at
about 7 am on Friday morning (if it was not raining heavily).
Fortunately, Mother Nature fooled the weather predictors again and
although heavily overcast, there was no rain when I got up.
I arrived a bit before 7 am and since Troy was not in view, I walked
perhaps 80 yards up the Spillway Trail that leads from the parking lot
to the dam and stopped just before the electric power pole. In the
small willows next to the stream from the dam I almost immediately heard
a song that I thought was a CONNECTICUT. It moved to denser cover
and eventually stopped singing. Shortly afterward I saw a male
CANADA WARBLER and remembered that someone had recently told me that
they sometimes confused COONNECTICUT song with the CANADA's. I began
to doubt what I had heard.
Troy arrived on the scene and we quickly found a bird that chipped
and from brief views was either a CONNECTICUT or MOURNING. Eventually
we nailed it, a stunning male MOURNING WARBLER. Was this the bird
I had heard sing earlier? If so it was not the song with which I was
familiar. I became more confused.
Getting great looks at the MOURNING, we wasted no time in reaching
Long Bridge to look for yesterday's CONNECTICUT. Sitting on the
bench with a big smile on her face was Susan Hollyday, she had already
seen her life bird, the CONNECTICUT. We heard it call behind the
bench, but then it went into stealth mode. Eventually found it foraging
quietly amongst some fallen tree limbs across the trail from the bench,
just where Susan had had it earlier! Lightening struck twice, Troy now
had his life CONNECTICUT as well.
Jan Shaw arrived and reported that she had seen a CONNECTICUT back
along the Spillway trail in the area where I had initially thought
I had heard a CONNECTICUT but found a MOURNING. Now I really was
confused.
David and Carrie Dortch arrived adding eyes to our search team.
While waiting for another look at the CONNECTICUT, we found a flycatcher
with a yellow throat and breast and short primary extension. This Long
Bridge area is one of the places at Radnor Lake where we have had
YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHERs in past years. Although it would be helpful
to confirm the sighting, I am 90-95% sure that the bird was a
YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER. Hope it is still around tomorrow for
Chris Sloan to see.
Finally my conscience got the better of me and I headed back to the
west parking lot, where my vehicle would take me to work. At the parking
lot there was a huge amount of construction noise and a group of chatty
kids, but I heard the same call that stopped me on the Spillway Trail
at the beginning of the morning. It sounded a bit like the CONNECTICUT I
had heard at Long Bridge but was not as twisted. Unfortunately, it did
not come out into the open so I could identify it by sight. However, I
think it was the MOURNING that I had seen before, singing an alternate
song that I do not know very well. I'll have to check my bird call tapes
tonight to be sure.
Frank Fekel
Tennessee State University
Center of Excellence in Information Systems
330 10th Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37203 USA
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