Prothonotary Warbler, April 29th 2010

This male Prothonotary Warbler bucked the usual trend with this classic migrant-overshoot species by singing pretty actively for several days in a row. It even foraged high in the canopy at times, although it usually favored a somewhat lower aspect in the denser wooded areas near the Weather Station. Mostly unconcerned about birders it often came in fairly close, almost invariably hidden by leaves given the early leaf-out in the canopy this year. Nevertheless I snagged a couple of shots.

Tree Swallow, April 2009

These are from almost exactly a year ago, on a sunny morning at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge en route to some business on Long Island. Under the right conditions Tree Swallows can be relatively trusting, particularly before they've settled down into nesting, and these pictures were part of a series of about 50 of some accommodating birds.

Palm Warbler, NYC, April 24th

This adult male Palm Warbler (Eastern race, the "Yellow Palm") was singing at Hernshead in Central Park on a sunny Saturday morning. In fact there were multiple Palm Warblers at this location. Despite unfavorable overnight winds for migration Palm, Yellow-rumped and Ruby-crowned Kinglet were present in OK numbers, and I racked up a total of 6 warblers on that particular day. Overall numbers were kind of low, so the Palm Warblers were the only ones I took photos of.