8/12/19
I took a walk at Radnor in Nashville this morning with hopes for perhaps an
early migrant or summer rarity, and to see if young were still being fed,
etc. - and it turned into a fairly noteworthy morning, with excellent looks
at 5 warbler species and 3 vireos, mainly all resident species, but several
which are infrequently seen in the doldrums of Summer.
At the spillway around 7AM there was a cloud of hatching midges or similar
insect that was garnering much excitement from a flock of Chimney Swifts as
well as mixed passerine species. At least 4 Prothonotary Warblers, a
Northern Parula, and YELLOW WARBLER were there, as well as White-eyed,
Red-eyed, and Yellow-throated Vireos. The Yellow Warbler is the third I've
seen in Nashville this week. The birds were all pretty jacked up and
chasing each other around angrily. I watched an Eastern Wood-Pewee chase
after at least 6 other species.
As activity died down. I walked on around to long bridge / bench 20 without
much action, other than a Barred Owl so close to the trail that I could
have grabbed it. One of my pastimes at Radnor is to watch people not notice
the nature around them, so I stood for a bit and counted the walkers and
talkers who passed within arms reach of this large raptor without ever
seeing it (answer: 10 out of 10).
At Bench 20 there was a lot of activity from regulars, as well as an adult
male HOODED WARBLER, followed by an adult male BLUE-WINGED WARBLER. It was
my first sighting of either species since the first week of May. Notable
was the lack of any singing Wood Thrushes, which is the first time I
haven't gotten them there since they arrived this year.
By the time I walked back to the spillway, it was almost 9 and already so
hot that bird activity had more or less ceased.
Graham Gerdeman
Nashville
