On my hours-long birding excursion in Central Park yesterday one of the highlights was seeing many Palm Warblers all over the grassy areas wherever people weren’t. The bright yellow of the eastern form, which was all I saw today, was a sight for sore eyes after far too long without the presence of the little tail-waggers. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get good pictures but oddly didn’t get really good shots until I came upon another birder taking pictures of one on the ground in front of her. I squatted down about 6 meters away and watched, amazed, as the Palm Warbler ran away from her and started foraging in front of me! Though I felt a bit bad about getting a better photographic opportunity I didn’t feel bad enough not to repeatedly release the shutter of my camera!

This one was quite insistent about not coming near me. I’m not sure exactly what it is that it is trying to see (except that it clearly wasn’t me) but apparently it really wanted to see it:

And this Palm Warbler was taking momentary shelter in a small tree when it, and every other bird in the vicinity, was flushed by what I assume was a hawk, though I did not manage to see the hawk myself.

Of course the Palm Warblers are only on their way through to the far north where they will breed so if you are in the northeastern United States you might want to get out and see them now or you will have to wait until the fall to track them down (well, that or go really far out of your way to try and find them on breeding territory).