It's just a Short Walk: Warblers really do exist!

There is an inside joke between a few of my birding friends concerning warblers. First, let me qualify my "birding" status. I am a rank amateur that hangs around with some serious birders. Don't get me wrong, I love the walks in the woods spotting birds but I do confess to loving the walks as much (or maybe a little more) than the serious endeavour of identifying the birds. To me, it's all about being outside in a great place and seeing all the things that go on in the quiet of the woods or meadow or pond. So....on these walks, my birder friends are always trying to point out warblers. Warblers are generally small (4-5") birds and in the Sibley guide book to North America there are almost 40 varieties; all of which look very similar to me with brown/black and varying degrees of yellow feathers. Obviously, the more you study or actually see these birds, the more you are able to distinguish the different subspecies. But, since I never actually spotted one (and my friends were spotting many!), the differentiating bits were mute. The inside joke is that another friend (Judie) never saw them either and we maintained that the whole species was fictitious! Low and behold on our 24 hour ocean passage from Port Royal to St. Mary's, GA, two yellow-rumped warblers came along for the ride. I had no idea what type of bird they were at the time but did get a picture of them both. The first stopped in when we were between 10-15 miles off the coast. He looked healthy, perched on the lifeline for a short time and then moved on. The second visit didn't have such a happy ending. The second warbler joined us sometime between 3:30-6:30 am when Joe was on watch. When I took over at 6:30, Joe opened up the cockpit enclosure and the little bird hopped right in. There was almost no wind but his feathers looked a bit ruffled and he was restless, wanting to get out as soon as he got in the cockpit and then he wanted back in again. There was plenty of pooled dew on the deck and I saw him drink a time or two. He also tried to peck at the red on our life jackets (hungry?). When he left the cockpit several times, he would hop/fly back to the dinghy and jump down in there. We thought that was a great place; out of the apparent wind from the movement of the boat but still out in the open so he could fly away when he wanted. However, when we finally anchored, we found the warbler had died in the dinghy. A brief burial at sea ceremony followed (after I pulled out the bird book and actually realized he was an elusive warbler!). So Judie, take heart......Warblers really do exist (however there is one less of them around to spot).