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What's a Pine Warbler doing on our Home Page?
A Reflection by Fred Schaeffer, OFS
Yes, I admit it, I am trying to invite people to read my Spiritual Reflections also known as "bro Fred's Reflections," but that's not the only reason for introducing this beautiful image of a Pine Warbler.
I spent many years tagging birds for science. My interest in bird banding (e.g. tagging) began when I was in the United States Army, stationed in Germany, on my days off. Since I was an hour away from Frankfurt am Main (by train), I looked in the phonebook and found a curious listing for "Vogelwarte Untermain," a bird observatory, in Fechenheim, a suburb of Frankfurt.
I made an appointment and got myself over there the following free day, and talked to Dr. Werner Keil, an Ornithologist. That was in 1962 or 63, I believe. He was older than I, so he's probably not with us anymore. I visited him often and he told me what bird banding was all about. He knew some of the leaders of the "Bird Banding Laboratory" in USA who could issue licenses to qualified banders. His specialty at the time were Hawfinches, European birds with a strong bill which could harm a bander's hand very easily. So Werner was happy to have me at the time, that is, I did the banding and got bit numerous times, and he got the data.
When my tour of duty was over in the U.S. Army I went back to Jamaica, NY where I lived at the time, and obtained the necessary Federal and State licenses and began bird banding in coastal Long Island for migratory warblers and such. Thus began a 20-year avocation, where I learned a lot, made many friends, and slowly got back to Church. To this day, I am very grateful for this opportunity.
Pine warblers (Setophaga pinus) are found in significant patches of pines in south Florida. They are year-round residents in northern to central Florida, but are most commonly seen during the winter season. They also occur in Nassau and Suffolk Counties (NY) as they breed there but they are not plentiful. Since I was banding there, I did get them occasionally in my nets, and banded them.
See also "My adventure with Birds" https://www.dmfofs2.com/my-adventures-with-birds
God bless my loyal readers and others too.
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