I was excited to spot this beautiful Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum) last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I had more or less given up on seeing any warblers except for Yellow-rumped Warbler, which will remain with us for a while, so this was a pleasant surprise. The little bird was full of energy and shortly after it leaned forward a little, as you can see in the second image, it flew to a more distant part of the field in which it was foraging.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
What a pretty bird. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one.
That’s a spot of luck you had, Mike, and I’m happy to see these two fantastic photos. The bright lemony tones are not often easy to see.
Thanks, Jet. I was happy to capture the yellows so well., So often in the autumn the colors of the warblers are really muted as compared with the spring colors.
Crisp and clear 👏👏👏👏
Was it a chilly day? It looks all fluffed and puffed up.
It was definitely a cool day when I too the shots–I agree that the warbler looks puffy.
Agreed………………….Crisp and Clear
Thanks, Leo.
Sweet images, Mike. I like that the colors of its plumage are echoed in the background.
Very nice Mike! Hard to get them in the open!
Nice surprise, Mike. I’ve seen these but not photographed them. Fall seems the best time to get a shot with the autumn colors as a complement.
Thanks, Steve. Getting the birds to cooperate with their perches so that the foliage is in the background is definitely one of my goals, though it is one that is often hard to achieve. 🙂
Nicely done.
It is such a shame that there are so few birds to be seen in our city … Apart from blackbirds, magpies, tits and pigeons we hardly see any birds here.
I like in Northern Virginia in the suburbs of Washington DC and am blessed to have an abundance of nature parks in my area, where I can see a pretty wide variety of bird species that change as we move through the seasons.
Wonderful captures, Mike! Warblers!!!
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Thanks, Mitzy. I love to see warblers, though I must confess that in the spring and the fall I tend to hear them more often than I see them.