Forget the palms. Palm Warblers like live oaks and other deciduous trees. Or being down near the ground hunting for bugs and berries.

The Florida Gardener’s Guide (which I borrowed from our excellent local library) waxed poetic about these trees that are such an important part of the neighborhood.

A Southern Live Oak may live for 300 or more years. Its massive branches can stretch horizontally, if allowed, so that the canopy is wider than the tree is tall. Its furrowed bark and leathery leaves support millions of living creatures, smaller than we can see, and a good many large enough for us to discern: Lichens, Mosses, Liverworts, a couple of squirrel nests, gnats, aphids, hair-streak larvae, germinating seeds of Bromeliads, mats of Resurrection Fern and Thick Fern, an ant highway, and a well-worn path of raccoons that teeter from topmost branches and watch the goings on below. A whole world lives in this one organism, and on, around, and under it, while it, too, thickens, stretches, and lengthens through complex metabolic activities.

It pulls water from the ground at the rate of hundreds of gallons a day, and it takes in carbon dioxide from the air and releases oxygen. The mycorrhizae attached to its roots are probably connected to other trees around it, like the invisible strings of matter in the universe, linking and interacting with other trees.

Wow!

Spotted this little Palm Warbler down low where I could see it, in a neighbor’s yard on Ridgeview Road.

Zoomed in.

From the Florida Eco Travel Guide…

Palm warblers are common winter residents in Florida, arriving in late September and staying on until April. You will see these small, active birds along forest edges, in open woods, and disturbed areas, including farmlands and marshes. They feed mostly on insects, but occasionally eat berries. Palm warblers are easy to recognize because they continually bob their tails.

Getting to know my neighbors!