Setophaga townsendi
male
Townsend’s Warbler is a stunning little songbird. The sexes are subtly dissimilar. Adult males have a streaked olive-yellow back and rump, blackish wings with two white wingbars, and a blackish tail with white outer feathers. The head has a dark crown, a dark “mask” with a yellow patch below the eye, and a black throat. The chest is black and the underparts are otherwise yellow on the breast and flanks (which have dark streaks), grading to white on the belly and undertail. Adult females are similar to an adult male but paler overall, with black elements of the head markings replaced by olive-gray. Immatures are similar to an adult female but less colorful, and with much fainter markings on the breast.
Townsend’s Warbler is present as a breeding species in Pacific Northwest conifer forests mainly from May to August. It spends the rest of the year in coastal California and Mexico, where pine forests are also favored. It usually forages for insects high in the treetops.
female
FACT FILE
LENGTH 5 in (12.5 cm)
FOOD Invertebrates
HABITAT Conifer forests
STATUS Locally common summer visitor
VOICE Song is a buzzing weeze-weeze-weeze-weZhe. Call is a sharp tsic
