A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum Red Neck HUMMER> right now

gotta look up 'green warbler'.....we have some hummer's here that have a lot of green. (i'm not much of a bird person, but I'm beginning to see how someone could be)

Not, "Green Warbler". There is no such critter. It's a Black-Throated Green Warbler. Do a Google Image Search on them. They are my favorite Warbler. I had one land on my hand once, chasing a caterpillar. Birding comes on gradually and then something happens that goes BAM!!! and you are permanently hooked. I had seen and knew a few birds most of my life. Then, 19 years ago, when I was 36, I scared up a flock of American Goldfinches in Summer Plummage in a nature park near my house. I immediately was reminded of fireworks and stopped by the nature center to find out what I saw. They identified the Goldfinches for me and invited me to a bird banding the next day. At a bird banding, they catch birds in invisible nets, measure them and get their vital statistics, put a metal band on their leg with a unique serial number, and turn the birds loose again. If the bird is ever caught or found dead, their life and migration pattern can be traced through that serial number. At the end of the day I stopped by the store and bought binoculars and a field guide and have never quit birding since. I now know over 200 species of birds by sight, sound, and behavior. And I chose an American Goldfinch as my avatar here in remembrance of the incident that started me birding. I mainly use a camera now instead of binoculars. Today's digital cameras now give you the same magnification and clarity as binoculars, and after you ID the bird, you just push the shutter button to make a PERMANENT record of the bird.