I haven't seen posts on Redstarts, so I guess I'll throw mine in. It has
nothing to do with interesting behavior, just the emotional impact of the
sighting.

When I was a kid in upstate NY, we were up in the Adirondacks camping and
hiking. Along the way I was greatly excited to see my first American
Redstart, a male (I'd have had no shot at identifying a female in those
days). I'd seen it in my junior field guide, and knew right away what it
was. At that stage of my life, a lot of the birds in the book were only
half real to me, and I was always a bit surprised when I happened across a
living example of one. In looking back, I'd estimate that American Redstart
was only the second or third warbler that I'd found and identified, behind
Yellow Warbler and possibly Ovenbird.

He was right at eye level and very active, so he put on a great show. It
was a great hike in a beautiful setting, to a place called Salmon Lake, but
far and away the greatest highlight of the trip was seeing that Redstart. I
guess it must have been, for me to remember it so vividly 35 years later...

Jim McCoy
Marblehead, MA
jfmccoy at hotmail.com