Palm Warbler

I live four miles from a wonderful linear park, a riparian habit, that has yielded many birds already this spring. I got amazing looks at ruby-crowned kinglets, for instance, which are the avian equivalents of a high-energy 5-year-old (Donovan comes to mind). While the bird guides say the "ruby" is hard to see, I often saw it this spring, but not as a crown. It was a narrow stripe on the cap and, one day, I watched a ruby-crowned forage below me while I stood on a viewing deck over the Pine River and got several good looks at the elusive "ruby crown." I also saw golden-crowned kinglets early in spring, usually in small groups. Warblers seem almost sluggish in comparison to kinglet mania.

This morning, I saw my first palm warbler for the year, close up, and an easy sighting. No craning my neck or hoping it would hop into better view or frustration. In the same spot, I noticed a secretive skulking sparrow on the opposite bank, moving in and out of view. I watched it for quite awhile and THINK it was a swamp sparrow, but am not positive. It was grey and rusty but seemed also to have fine breast streaking. Roger Tory Peterson does say "Immature Swamp Sparrows in spring migration are continually misidentified as the Lincoln's Sparrow."