The Palms are Back

A week ago as we were about to close the nets I saw a bird near the top of a pine tree on the trail's edge. Nice yellowish breast and a constant bobbing of the tail. The Palm Warblers were returning!

Today we captured and banded our first of the season.



Palm Warblers were one of the first birds that were part of my 'awakening' to the world of birds, bird watching, and eventually banding. The first was a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on Christmas which forced me to start going to length in identifying new birds and Palms were the second.

Someone asked me 'what are all these little birds moving so fast around the parking lot' at work so I set out to get a picture of one. After a week of stalking at work and near home I was finally able to get a shot through the branches of a cypress tree (First picture, top row).

From there it was a good amount of time scouring some books to get the positive ID. I was hooked on tracking down birds ever since.

Which led me to fun experiences, new discoveries, and an official banding permit which now allows me to get bitten REALLY hard by birds like this Cardinal. If you ever wanted to know what an angry Cardinal looks like, here ya go.



I wouldn't have it any other way.