Myadestes townsendi
adult
Townsend’s Solitaire is a slim, long-tailed songbird. The sexes are similar. Adults have mainly gray body plumage, darkest on the back and palest on the underparts. The head shows a white eyering, and the wings are dark with orange-buff patches and whitish tips to the tertials and greater coverts. The tail is black, with white edges and broad tips to the outer feathers. In flight, note the dark bar on the otherwise pale underwing coverts. Juveniles are brown with numerous pale spots, but with the same wing and tail markings as adults.
Townsend’s Solitaire is present as a breeding species in the north of its range, mainly from May to August. Northern birds migrate south in fall and their range extends to southern mountain ranges, where the species is a year-round resident. The song and call are evocative of rugged, forested wilderness. The diet comprises mainly invertebrates in summer; berries, notably those of junipers (Juniperus spp.), are important in winter.
adult
adult
FACT FILE
LENGTH 8.5 in (21.5 cm)
FOOD Invertebrates and berries
HABITAT Rugged conifer forests
STATUS Widespread and common summer visitor; present year-round in the south of its range
VOICE Song comprises rich, warbling phrases. Call is a whistled tiu, tiu . . ., resembling a sonar blip
