the Myrtles are in!

A flock of Yellow-rumped (a.k.a. Myrtle) Warblers came in this morning. This is the only warbler that we see in numbers in migration and winter. The old name, Myrtle Warbler, refers to the fact that it eats berries in the winter which enables it to survive (most of the other warblers are insect eaters and go on to warmer climes where there is year-round food for them). As usual, the warblers landed at the corner of the marsh where the trees and bushes jut out to the northeast and, also as usual, there were dozens of birds jumping all over the place for the first hour or so. Afterwards -- again as usual -- the flock melted away, presumably back to the head of the marsh and perhaps into the woods.

There was one Palm Warbler visible among the Yellow-rumps. This was the non-breeding Western Palm which also has a yellow rump but, most noticeably, yellow undertail coverts; also a eye-stripe or supercilium and faint breast streaking. It is also a vigorous tail pumper (which leads birders to refer to the two species -- which often travel together -- as 'rumps and pumps'). Palm Warbler comes in two varieties; the Eastern or Yellow Palm is more common in the spring while the Western or Brown Palm is more common in the fall. They look different enough to be two different species but they have always been considered subspecies. Both Yellow-rumped and Palm are firsts of the season in these parts.

The only other warblers seen were Black-and-white and Common Yellowthroat.

Another first of the season: the bird with the name every non-birder loves to parody, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Only the missing Hairy Woodpecker prevented me from getting the woodpecker quadrifecta. Lots of Red-bellied, Downy and Northern Flickers, the latter calling and moving -- often with American Robins -- in the wrong direction (i.e. from southwest to northeast). These birds must fly at night over the ocean (or along the shore) and then move inland after sunrise giving the impression of a reverse migration.

Eric Salzman