These events occurred on Sunday, April 4, 2010…

Every year I am amazed at how quickly and suddenly the foliage at Radnor Lake – and all over, for that matter – occurs, and hiking at Radnor Lake in the spring is a marvel to behold. It really is!

The leaves are already more than halfway out, and a carpet of small white wildflowers coats the floor of the woods on either side of the South Cove Loop trail. I cannot help but take more photographs despite the hundreds of pictures I already have from springs past.

Springtime at Radnor Lake is wonderful for bird-watchers as well, what with all the birds on their migratory routes back north. Dozens of species of birds can only be seen here in Nashville, Tennessee during their migration in the spring and fall, including more types of warblers than I could possibly identify – especially considering I have enough trouble identifying a warbler as it is!

A particularly wonderful Radnor Lake hike took place on April 4, 2010 with my friend Steve D. We parked at the church, as we usually do when we expect parking to be at a premium due to both the glorious weather as well as the apparent exploding popularity of Radnor Lake. We in Nashville, Tennessee are indeed lucky to have such a natural area.

Steve and I typically hike the south end of Radnor Lake; we walk from the church to the west Radnor parking lot, take the spillway trail to the bridge, then walk down the gravel road on top of the dam back to Otter Creek road, and quickly arrive at the western South Cove trailhead. We hike uphill to the top of the ridge and then down the steeper side, then circle back along the South Lake trail. It is a fairly short loop, but there are far fewer hikers on the south side than the lake side. This arguably increases our chances of wildlife sightings and photo opportunities.

The water level of the lake is still relatively high, streaming over the spillway to create beautiful cascades in Otter Creek, cascades that are out of reach for photographers who remain on the trail (this includes us, of course). I often wish there was not so much foliage hiding these Otter Creek cascades; the photos would be great.

The turtles are back out in full force, often taking up all available space on a given waterlogged log, especially if it is in the sun. It is not unusual to count ten or more Red-Eared Sliders on a single log.

The first thing I noticed after we started out on the South Cove trail was the almost complete coverage of the forest floor by small white wildflowers, which I already mentioned but felt compelled to mention again!

But the pinnacle of this Radnor Lake hike was our sighting of a medium-sized Barred Owl. Apparently, the Barred Owl – when compared to the other local owls like the Great Horned Owl and the Screech Owl, I believe – are more likely to be out and about during the daylight hours, and seem to be less wary of passing hikers. Whether this is a fact or not I am unsure; perhaps it just seems that way.

Even though Steve and I were more than a dozen yards apart while trudging up the incline to the ridge, we both spotted the Barred Owl at the same time; the movement caught our eye when the owl flew from the ground, where it was apparently hunting, to a low limb of a nearby tree.

We probably could have made a good photo session out of this had the owl remained on that branch, but then it flew towards us and perched on a large branch of a fallen, dead tree, as if begging to be photographed. This was perfect, as Steve – the photographer that he is – had brought his tripod and expensive camera. All I had was my trusty digital camera, an Olympus Stylus 790 SW, which I chose from the glut of available digital cameras for its slim size, large screen, its water resistance, and its shock resistance. This is all the camera I seem to need, though, at least for now.

The Barred Owl remained on the dead limb long enough for us to get all the shots we wanted, which turned out to be dozens and dozens of photos. We both know from experience that one might as well take advantage of the digital age and take too many rather than too few photographs, because some of them are bound to be blurry or otherwise no good.

The owl turned out to be the primary subject of our photos on this hike, although I did get quite a few great shots of other various points of interest, mainly the light streaming down upon the aforementioned carpet of white flowers. And while moss is generally not too interesting, the way the light played on one patch of common moss made this another photo op.

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