FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Very young? Palm Warbler

[Charlie <cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi folks,

Yesterday Tracey and I were about 2 or 2.5 miles up the closed
section of Foothills Parkway south of US 321 in Blount County. 
Birding was very slow and not very interesting until we saw something
jumping around on the ground under some bushes.  Closer inspection
revealed a not-very-mobile, tailless, young Palm Warlber.  It was
also missing 3 primaries on the right wing.

Palm nest FAR too north of here, or else I would have thought this
was an ultra-late fledgeling.  It was certainly a first year bird,
judging from the very pointed wing coverts, very thin plumage
overall, and the fact that there were only 3 brown feathers on the
crown.  Unfortunately I didn't think to check it's skull until I'd
let it go, and I didn't want to harrass it again.  (With practice,
the pattern of development of the skull can be seen under the
feathers, and used to more accurately determine a young bird's age.)

It had no fat in the furiculum.  This is the notch between the
pectoral muscles, which needs to be full of yellow fat before a bird
can migrate.  The entire breast below the feathers was pink.  There
was no sign of injury or illness, nor were there any external
parasites.

When we released the bird (which I had simply bent over and picked
up) it ran to the bushes and readily climbed up, looking better than
it did when I'd picked it up.  We had considered bringing it home and
trying to find a rehabber, but decided that the trip home (with 2
dogs and an infant) was possibly worse for the little guy than simply
letting nature take its course.  Had we been close to the car, and
had we a paper bag or small box, we likely would have taken it.  But
the stress of the situation likely would have killed it before we
could find it help.

ID was based on the very straight, relatively long (even for a
warbler) bill; bold supercilium; dark line through the eye; bright
yellow untertail coverts; "dingy" breast; all-dark legs with yellow
under the feet.  We couldn't tell if it ever pumped it's tail :-) 
Because the only yellow was the undertail coverts, we judged it to be
"western" or Dendroica palmarum palmarum.

Palm Warblers are not unusual in the Smokies, but this is the first
time I've ever had one at any elevation.  They are usually down in
Cades Cove, or other lower areas.  They also generally prefer open
areas as opposed to the semi-full second-growth canopy this guy was
in.  

=====
**************************************************
Charlie Muise, Naturalist near
Great Smoky Mountains National Park

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer."  -Edward Abbey
**************************************************

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