Wildlife Encounters on the Burch Reseve

Wildlife Encounters on the Burch Reserve
Shared by Naturalist Kim Bailey
Photos courtesy Kim Bailey unless otherwise noted
kim.bailey@nashville.gov

This tunnel is  your entryway to the beautiful Burch Reserve. You never know what you will find there so put this trail on your to do list!

Walking through the tunnel at the Burch Reserve in early June, I spied a medium-sized rodent at the far end.  It ran out of the tunnel and up the hillside where it hunkered down in tall grass. Peering up through the vegetation, its mottled coat of stiff hairs and medium-length tail gave its identity away. I was thrilled to see my first living Hispid Cotton Rat (Sigmodon hispidus), not just a stuffed specimen.  Although considered common in Tennessee, these rats had never been documented in Warner Park. 

Hispid cotton rat hiding  in overgrowth on the Burch Reserve. It is facing left—see it’s pointed nose  far left near the center?

Cotton rats are in the same family as white-footed mice, voles, lemmings and hamsters. 

Hispid Cotton Rat courtesy Google images

They love grassy fields with shrubby overstory, so the Burch Reserve provides a perfect habitat for them. They make runways in the grass about 3" across, leaving little piles of shorn leaves at regular intervals. The name comes from the stiff ("hispid") hairs on their coat and the fact that they are often abundant in cotton fields. Cotton rats feed on grasses, sedges and agricultural crops, as well as insects, carcasses and the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds. In turn, coyotes, bobcats, hawks, owls and other predators feed on them. 

Cotton rats create  runs in the grass to move easily through their habitat. It takes a keen eye to notice the  3” wide trails.

It is always exciting to see something new in the Park and to add to our species inventory. Finding the cotton rat was a great beginning to our hike, but more discoveries were waiting on the trail.

As Melissa and I topped the ridge we noticed little clusters of butterflies spiraling up in what appeared to be a well-choreographed “dance”. After observing them for a few moments, we realized the butterflies were only in areas where a beam of light penetrated the canopy and illuminated the forest floor. Every now and then the butterflies (by now identified as Banded Hairstreaks) would descend and land on a leaf and then lean heavily to one side so that only one wing showed. I had never seen such behavior.  A later search of Rita Venable’s Butterflies of Tennessee taught me that the spiraling behavior was exhibited by males sparring over territory. As for the unusual angle they held upon landing, I could only surmise the males must be posing for nearby females!

This Banded Hairstreak landed and held this angled pose for long minutes before  joining  other males in sparring mid-air.

Now that our eyes were on butterflies, we noticed a Little Wood Satyr on the ground. This species rarely shows up on our butterfly counts, so we were happy that it was content to stay put as we took pictures. Little Wood Satyrs display an erratic flight just above the ground and appear very plain and brown in flight. However, when it lands you see its large eyespots.

As we began to descend the ridge, a bird dropped to the ground for a few seconds quite near us. The sunlight caught the feathers on its head, making it look almost florescent cherry! It was a Scarlet Tanager – a second year male based on his mix of red and yellow body feathers. The yellow female Scarlet Tanager was with him and we delighted in watching as she repeatedly flew to him, landed on a nearby branch and fluffed her feathers. She was clearly displaying to him, a display that we interpreted as readiness to mate. We laughed as this inexperienced male ignored her time and time again.

This second year male scarlet tanager is still in the process of changing into his adult plumage, from his yellow juvenile feathers into red adult feathers.

As we entered the field below Pickerel Pond we saw birds darting about a small fallen tree whose branches were sticking up above the tall grasses. When we got closer to the tree I was astonished to find a male Blue Grosbeak, a male Indigo Bunting and a Great Crested Flycatcher perched within a  foot or so of each other!  I cursed my decision to leave my good camera at home but vowed I would return soon to the beautiful Burch Reserve.

It’s not often you get to see a Blue Grosbeak and Indigo Bunting share the same tree! The Great Crested Flycatcher escaped before I could capture it on my iPhone.

Edwin Warner Park's Burch Reserve is open every day from dawn until 11 p.m. Dogs and running are not permitted in this very special natural area. 

Map of the Burch Reserve