High Island was the place where I was first bitten by the ‘birding bug’. It was actually a Hooded Warbler that caught me. It was 1992 and I was in college and was down visiting my parents. I was sitting on the edge of the boardwalk in ‘the Cathedral’ at Boy Scout Woods. That year, there was a true ‘fall out’, and birds were literally everywhere. While I was sitting there (a little bored), a small canary yellow bird with a black executioner hood was hopping inches from my feet. Oh, those colors! Wow! I went to find my mom to ask “what was that little bird?” and I was hooked. That year, I remember Blue-Winged, Hooded, Kentucky, and Nashville Warblers on every branch. Scarlet and Summer Tanagers and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks rounded out the spectrum of colors. It was a great introduction to birding.
