You know you're bird-crazy when you drive 108 miles to a city where your daughter is going to school to look for a life-bird and barely give your child a second thought.  The good news is that when we called Hillary to let her know we were in her area she was relieved to find out that our birding activities were likely to keep us from interfering with her social schedule :-)   

We were chasing the Palm Warbler that had been found a few days before at Golden Gardens City Park in Eugene.  Jill and I disagree about the specifics involved in our finding this bird; she thinks my version of the story is exaggerated, while I think I am learning to calm down (a bit) and embellish less about the details of finding a lifer.  I say the car was in drive and we were pulling away from the curb after our third unsuccessful visit to the area when I spotted a small bird flying into the trees at the edge of the park that I thought might be the Palm Warbler.  Jill maintains that I had not yet put the car in drive :-)  

The primary benefit of looking closely at Yellow-rumped Warblers for several hours without spotting a similar species is that you quickly know when something different shows up - with or without using binoculars.  The job for us now is to preserve the knowledge gained from that experience for as long as possible :-)  

Palm Warbler (six images)

Palm Warbler Palm Warbler Palm Warbler Palm Warbler Palm Warbler Palm Warbler

The rest of the images from our visit are here

Interactive Map of Golden Gardens City Park (click the name of the park for directions)

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