Hiking Nature

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

I’m quite an enthusiast when it comes to hanging bird feeders wherever I can, and then observing the various bird species that eventually find the food I’ve put out for them. During the second week of April, I finally picked up several bird feeders from my previous residence and set them up in the yard where I now reside. It has been a long time coming and I am excited to finally have them out, available for the local birds.

Other bird-feeding folks will not be surprised to hear that the very first visitors to my new bird feeders were squirrels!

I put out six bird feeders: one square suet feeder/cage, one suet cylinder, and four mixed seed feeders, one of which is enclosed in a squirrel-proof cage. The very first visitor I noticed was a squirrel sitting atop the squirrel-proof cage, reaching its little hand down to grab some seed from the topmost hole, which it could barely reach. This squirrel soon gave up.

Within the first two days, two species of bird found a couple of my mixed seed feeders: the Carolina Chickadee, with its black-capped head, and the Tufted Titmouse. Since then I have noted one other bird enjoying the mixed seed – a blackbird, or a Grackle.

I have seen only one bird nibbling at the suet feeders, to which I am hoping to attract woodpeckers and the like – unpredictably, a Blue Jay.

Some critter – probably a brave squirrel – tore into my mixed seed bag, which was placed just outside my back door. I have since placed it on top of the grill, presumably out of reach for all but the bravest of squirrels or chipmunks.

One squirrel was brave enough to climb onto the grill right outside my door and feast on the torn bag of mixed seed. I finally had to bring it inside.

It’s around noon on Monday, May 3, 2010 as I write this, and am just about to undertake my first Nashville nature hike after the all-time record floods that ravaged a wide area over the weekend, which just ended yesterday.

I look forward to surveying and photographing the creeks and other low-lying areas at Ellington Agricultural Center. I would imagine the beaver dam has been washed away, and that the mallard duck nest with seven eggs photographed late last week in the Ellington marshes has probably been destroyed, though I certainly hope not.

More soon!

The following occurred on Tuesday, April 27, 2010…

I checked the radar for my zip code at www.weather.com around 1pm and noted a break in the clouds, so I decided to squeeze in a hike — even though I noticed some possible precipitation behind the area of clear skies. I have gotten into the habit of not only checking the radar when I am planning a hike and there potential rain afoot, but also checking the cloud cover. I like hiking when it’s sunny — but I am a big fan of major stormy weather as well!

As soon as I walked up to the creek crossing after taking my shortcut through an adjoining field, I saw a medium-sized Northern Water Snake slip into the water and disappear. Because I had never seen a snake sunning itself in that spot, I did not think to scan the area before I walked up – and because of that, I missed this photo op of my second snake sighting this year.

The water was high because of the major storms that hit Middle Tennessee over the weekend, but I crossed the creek in spite of the fact that my old hiking boots are no longer waterproof due to being completely worn out.

As I hiked through the big field, it was nice and sunny — although it was clear that some tall, puffy, white thunderheads were developing. I reached the part of the trail closest to Seven Mile Creek, where I always cut down to the creek to look for birds and reptiles, which I usually see in this area of Ellington Agricultural Center. On this day I saw no reptiles, but I did see some type of long-legged, brown and white bird eating something from the creek. The photographs I took were not very clear but I shall post one or two nevertheless.

At this point I turned around to hike back out the way I came in. It was getting cloudy. More than that, it appeared a storm was approaching. As I hiked back through the field, the sky grew dark and the wind really picked up. I heard a loud crack and then a crash as a large portion of a tree was blown down onto the very trail on which I had hiked in only moments before.

By the time I’d returned to the creek crossing, large drops were falling and the wind was blowing. I was actually getting chilly from being wet and wind-driven. I made it back home wet but exhilarated — another great hike at Ellington.

This hike took place on Sunday, April 25, 2010…

Steve D. invited me on a Radnor Lake hike on Sunday afternoon, one day after the largest storms Nashville has seen yet this year. We took a chance that there would be parking spaces available in the East lot, and we scored a spot. Starting from the East parking lot, we struck out on the connector trail and started to ascend Ganier Ridge.

The first thing we noticed on the connector trail was the excessive washout on the trail. Radnor Lake employees and volunteers have laid down what must be a record amount of mulch and/or wood chips on some sections of the trails this year, and a large percentage of this trail medium was washed away due to the heavy rains that occurred Friday night and Saturday. The extent of the washout was eye-opening.

The vast woodland fields of purple flowers, one of the spring highlights on the East side, have faded away.

Since I learned the call of the Red-Bellied Woodpecker a few weeks ago, it seems I hear them everywhere.

As is often the case when the weather is in question, I checked the radar at weather.com before the hike – and it showed increasing cloud cover and sporadic showers which could possibly affect our excursion. It was indeed very windy – probably gusting up to 25 MPH or more, and it felt great.

We saw several deer and not too much else.

From the east lot, we hiked up and down Ganier Ridge, took a left on the Lake Trail, across the spillway bridge, along the dam to Otter Creek Road, the length of the South Lake Trail coming out on Otter Creek Road once again, and followed the road back to the East parking lot.

We stopped to take photographs at the spillway bridge, on the South Lake trail where we saw several deer, and finally along Otter Creek road where there was quite a bit of red Trumpet Vine growing in the honeysuckle along the lake. Steve and I took more pictures of these wonderful trumpet vine flowers than anything else today.

On the south side of Otter Creek Road there are three cut-off sections of the lake, which basically take the form of swamps. There are two small swamps and one very large swamp. Due to the very heavy rain and storms that occurred over the weekend, the water in all three swamps was brown, even in the big swamp toward the east end of the lake. The wind was really gusting and the sky was darkening as these photographs were taken.

NOTE: The following bird / waterfowl sightings took place on Friday, April 23, 2010…

I hiked the Roger’s Walk trail (and then some) today, as has become a very enjoyable new habit of mine. Just when I think I’ve seen all there is to see on this short Nashville hike, nature presents fresh surprises.

I would even dare to say that I have had as many interesting wildlife sightings during my Ellington Agricultural Center hikes as I have on my Radnor Lake hikes – and that is saying a lot.

Ever since I found the beaver dam at Ellington a few weeks ago, I typically trek through the area every time I hike there in the hopes of actually photographing the beaver — as opposed to capturing merely the various beaver evidence that is to be found near the beaver dam (gnawed trees and shrubs, piles of gnawed limbs, footprints in the mud, and so on).

At one point during the Roger’s Walk hike at Nashville’s Ellington Agricultural Center, the trail parallels Seven Mile Creek, which is the largest stream on the Ellington property (there are several creeks flowing through). There are a couple of side trails that lead directly to Seven Mile Creek, and I always take them. This stretch of Seven-Mile Creek is where I have a large percentage of my reportable wildlife sightings, and besides that, I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring streams and creeks since childhood.

The exploration of the usual short stretch of Seven-Mile Creek really paid off on Friday. In the area where I typically see a mating pair of Mallard Ducks, I instead saw a Great Blue Heron standing in the creek. I have not even seen a Great Blue Heron at Nashville’s Radnor Lake yet this year, so I was quite surprised – and pleased. I got a couple of decent shots from afar.

Later, I explored a different creek at Ellington – a smaller stream which eventually empties into Seven-Mile Creek. I was surveying the area near the beaver dam (which I have already written about in this blog) in the hopes of actually seeing the beaver for the first time. Instead, the very pair of Mallard Ducks I had seen at Seven-Mile Creek was just below the beaver dam, apparently foraging for food. It looked as though the male was doing most of the foraging, whereas the female was hanging out just a couple of feet away on a gravel bar. A few minutes later, the female followed the male Mallard Duck as they went back downstream toward where I usually see them.

Despite my hiking in very close proximity to the pair of Mallard Ducks, they did not fly away, nor did they seem alarmed at all. This presented a fantastic photo opportunity, of which I took full advantage. The male Mallard Duck is one of the more colorful and beautiful of the local waterfowl, perhaps second only in color to the Wood Duck.

NOTE: The ‘wild’ rooster was sighted on April 12, 2010…

One might assume that, after hiking the relatively short but sweet 1.6-mile Roger’s Walk trail a few times (at Nashville’s Ellington Agricultural Center), one has seen about all there is to see in terms of wildlife. Not so; I continue to be consistently surprised with the various creatures I see while hiking at Ellington.

Of course, a male rooster may not be considered by most folks as “wildlife” per se, but this beautifully-colored male rooster was out and about at Ellington during one my recent late afternoon Nashville hikes. I have since heard a couple of other hikers mention that they have seen roosters or chickens in the wild before. Regardless of how the average hiker Joe may classify such a rooster sighting, it is in any case blogworthy, IMHO!

In all probability, this male rooster managed to escape (go, rooster!) from some agricultural event held at Ellington Agricultural Center. This is a more likely scenario than the existence of a wild poultry population there, especially given the fact that Ellington regularly hosts various agriculturally-centered events.

Nevertheless, this wild rooster sighting remains one of the more unique surprises I have encountered while hiking in Nashville, Tennessee! I hope you enjoy these pics, and if you have had – or have even heard of – similar encounters, please leave a comment!

Thanks,
Stephen

Today I finally photographed my first snake of the year (‘bout time!): a juvenile Northern Water Snake swimming in Seven Mile Creek at Ellington Agricultural Center. I have been surveying this area of Seven Mile Creek every time I hike at Ellington, thinking that, with all the flat rock shelves in the sun, I was bound to eventually find water snakes sunning themselves there. It finally happened.

This is a juvenile Northern Water Snake, probably one year old, since it is too early (I think) for this year’s newborn water snakes.

I spent 30 minutes hovering around the area, hoping to capture the snake and get some really good photographs. My persistence paid off in that I got a couple of extra shots, but the snake did not swim close enough to the edge for me to capture it. Darn!

As I mentioned in another post, I have only recently begun taking advantage of a nice little hike within walking distance of where I am now living: Roger’s Walk at Ellington Agricultural Center, in the Crieve Hall area of south Nashville, Tennessee.

These hiking trails are a jewel of a find for me, given the fact they are so nearby, so accessible – and probably not very well-known to Nashvillians as a place to hike within Nashville, Tennessee. Most outdoorsy Nashvillians now know about Radnor Lake and the Warner Parks (Percy Warner, Edwin Warner), but I would guess that most remain unaware that hiking trails actually exist at the Ellington Agricultural Center.

The most amazing characteristic of the hiking trails at Ellington Agricultural Center is the diversity and variation regarding the types of habitats through which the trail traverses. You’ve got creeks, wide open fields, woods (including one small stretch with huge, old-growth trees), an official Iris Garden, and more. Logic might propose that such a short trail (1.6 miles) in an area like this would be boring and repetitive, but I can assure you it is anything but dull.

The main hiking trail is a 1.6-mile loop called Roger’s Walk, named after Rogers Clark Caldwell, a prominent banker and financier in Tennessee from the early 20th century. Clark was also the builder of Brentwood Hall, an estate on which he built a home using Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage as the architectural model – the very same land which is now Ellington Agricultural Center.

There are creeks and streams galore at Ellington Agricultural Center, the largest being Seven Mile Creek (some sources read Sevenmile Creek). Creeks and other small waterways really add a lot to the hiking experience, particularly for amateur herpetologists such as myself (I have always found reptiles and amphibians to be quite fascinating). I will probably devote an entire post to the subject of how creeks and streams can add to the hiking experience.

According to a Tennessee website:

Located in the heart of a Nashville suburb is an oasis of wild America, a rich tapestry of woodlands, meadows and hedgerows woven around the flow of Seven Mile Creek. This unique resource is preserved and protected as part of the Department’s Watershed Initiative for its aesthetic values, and to serve as a living laboratory for resource conservation.

There are numerous places to get on the Roger’s Walk hiking trail, since it is at Ellington Agricultural Center where there are large parking lots and several roads running through the property. Speaking of roads, Ellington is probably one of the most popular short cuts in all of Nashville! There is constant traffic through Ellington between the Franklin Road/Hogan Road area and Edmondson Pike. Fortunately for all of us who take advantage of this short cut, it is now acceptable and open 24/7, unlike a few years ago when they would shut it down at night.

For Nashville hiking enthusiasts, I highly recommend Roger’s Walk at Ellington Agricultural Center; just don’t expect it to be as long or moderately strenuous as Radnor Lake.

Resources

Tennessee Dept. of Agriculture – Roger’s Walk

Walk Nashville – Ellington Agricultural Center Trail

Tennessee Ornithological Society – Ellington Agricultural Center

Nashville Hiking Meetup Group – Ellington Agricultural Center

Mike E. invited me for a hike at Radnor Lake today (Tuesday, April 14, 2010). It was sunny and 84 degrees F as we hiked. It almost seems as though we skipped spring this year and jumped right into summer temperatures. However, it must be a banner spring for plants, as I cannot recall such a burst of flowers at Radnor Lake. It’s amazing.

Here are a few of my favorite photographs from today’s hike, complete with descriptions below each image. As usual, some of the images appear at random, so you can hit your browser’s refresh/reload button to see additional images of the same subjects.

Here’s a pic of Mike E. hiking on the Ganier Ridge connector trail amidst an amazing area filled with purple flowers, which must be seen to be believed! I have not yet identified these purple flowers carpeting the area, so if anyone knows what they are, please comment.

Here’s a good closeup of a young/juvenile five-lined skink on a tree along the Ganier Ridge trail at Radnor Lake, with its brilliant blue tail which loses its color as the skink ages. (There is also another post about the skink on this blog…)

A nice view of Radnor Lake in spring, complete with flowering Redbud tree

A pair of Canada Geese taking it easy on the shore of Radnor Lake

Another pair of Canada Geese, with a couple of Red-eared Sliders (turtles) on a log in the background at Radnor Lake

These brilliant purple flowers are everywhere!

More purple flowers

Large tree with huge vines

A pair of unidentified waterfowl at Radnor Lake

A pair of Wood Ducks at Radnor Lake

The nest of a Red-Tailed Hawk, which could be seen much more clearly a couple of weeks ago, now largely obscured by new leaves

One of the more unusual things that occurred on this hike was the extreme interest of a bumble bee in Mike and I. This bee would not leave us alone for about ten minutes or more; it kept hovering in front of us as we rested on a bench along the South Cove Loop at Radnor Lake, getting bolder and closer with each passing moment. I decided to try to photograph it in flight, which was rather difficult. A couple of them turned out well enough to see the colors of the bee.

Have you ever wondered exactly what causes the various stages or phases of the moon and its ‘light’? (I enclose light in quotes since, of course, the moon never gives off its own light, but only reflects it.)

I recently found a diagram which does a great job in explaining the phases of the moon.